Digimon Adventures: ARES
by Lichlord08
Summary: (Sequel to Darkening Fates) Two years after the fated battle against the Dark Legion, a man-made AI with mysterious origins has begun to cause havoc in the Digital World, with the Digi-heroes finding help from some unlikely allies, some welcomed, while one not so much. Can they stop the A.I.'s plans? And what are the true motives of their unlikely ally? (Thanks to Liquidphazon).
1. Chapter 1

It was late at night in Yokohama as an unmarked limo drove through the streets to an unknown location.

In the back was an older man wearing a business suit, with pale skin, short brown hair, who was sitting with his head in his hand as he looked out the window as he was deep in thought.

This was Hashima, a representative from the Japanese Confidentiality Ministry, whose former responsibility was to oversee the DATS organization, before the position was stripped from him after he allowed Kurata to trick him into disbanding the group originally, and nearly allowed the mad man to unleash chaos on their world, had it not been for the timely intervention of those he had disbanded in the first place.

The older man had learnt from his mistakes, and supported DATS fully after that day, placing his complete trust within Chief Richard Sampson, and was there when the portals to the newly merged Digital World was first opened, greeting the others groups who worked with the Digimon as they and DATS began to work together.

The merger of the Digital Worlds and the partnership DATS shared with this other 'Digi-heroes' also opened the doorway for newer opportunities, as Hashima was often in contact with various other agencies from the others Earths that were connected to the Digital World, even Hypnos, with most of the groups feeling compliant with the idea of letting the Digi-heroes handle the problems from the new Digital World and keep the Earths safe.

However, that opinion changed two years ago, when a tear between timelines opened in the Digital World, and it was invaded by an army from an alternate timeline, led by a fallen version of the girl, Kari Kamiya, and several others that not only conquered their Digital World, but all the Earths of that timeline as well.

While that crisis had passed, and the events that would have led to that scenario has been averted, the question remained for each of the Earths' agencies, what do they do next time?

What do they do if Kamiya went rogue again, or any of the other Digi-heroes were tempted by a similar corruptive power? If the other heroes fall or are corrupted, what could the Earths do to protect themselves against such a potential threat?

Surprisingly, the answer might have come to them during the crisis, for as they were monitoring the Breach that had formed in the Digital World between the timelines, Hypnos recorded a strange, phantom signal that was repeating through the rift.

While not telling the Digi-heroes, and those close to them about the signal, groups from each of the Earths analyzed the signal, with those overseeing DATS coming to a surprising find, that the signal held in it the base code of what could be an artificial intelligence.

And thus Hashima was now on his way to the facility that was working on creating just that, a man made A.I. that would help the Earths in the event the Digital World became hostile and the Digi-heroes either fell or joined the potential threat.

But despite the promise such an advanced weapon could bring, Hashima had his doubts, for an A.I. in the Digital World would practically be a God, as he had seen from King Drasil all those years ago.

Likewise, his contact from Hypnos, who also had their own reservations, informed him about a similar A.I. his world had created, the Digital Reaper, or D-Reaper, which eventually not only tried to destroy the Digimon, but their Earth as well, having used the Tamer, Jeri Kato as a method to judge the Real World and though her negative emotions, believed extermination of all living organisms was the logical choice.

Despite this, however, the higher ups had given the project the green light, and Hashima was now arriving at the secret facility to see the first test run of the A.I., as the older man composed himself and stepped out of the car, following his detail towards the hidden elevator in the seemingly abandoned warehouse, before heading down to the facility below.

Inside, Hashima found a state of the art facility, with nearly a dozen people working on computers, all in white coats, visors and white masks, concealing their identities, while at the center of the room was a large glowing red sphere, seemingly made up of ones and zeroes, floating on a platform, the virtual representation of the A.I. as it remained in its standby mode.

Seeing the new arrival, one of the scientists, the apparent lead of the facility, approached Hashima, shaking his hand as he said. "Welcome, Sir, we're just about to begin."

"Good." Hashima said as one of the monitors turned on, revealing his contact from Hypnos, a tall, dark haired man in sunglasses that was once the Chief Cabinet Secretary of his Earth's Japan, having been in charge of overseeing Hypnos during their incidents with the Digital World, and was allowed to keep that job even after his time in office was over.

"Are we certain there is no danger? We still have no ideas as to the origin of the original signal." The man asked the chief scientist, who shook his head as though to say there was nothing to worry about.

"We checked multiple times, the signal only gave a basic code, nothing more, our Artificial Reality Extermination System is one of a kind." The scientist said in a confident reply.

While Hashima rolled his eyes at the name, he then let out at sigh as the acronym came to mind, A.R.E.S.

"Must we name this... thing after the God of War?" Hashima asked with some bitterness in his voice, already not liking how things were going.

"Respectfully, sir, if we have to use it, it's because we are at war." The scientist replied, causing Hashima to nod in reply, before allowing the scientist to go to work as they rest of the team prepared to activate the A.I. for the first time.

As the group talked and typed, inputting the final codes and data within their creation, the computer screens gained a symbol, which resembled a sword pointed upwards with flames circling it, before the virtual sphere began to pulse a little.

"**Systems: Online... Commencing information retrieval.**" A.R.E.S. said, its voice deep and almost ominous, which did not sit well for Hashima or his Hypnos counterpart.

"Alright, let's start the first tests with..." The lead scientist started to say, feeling a small amount of pride that their work was coming to life, before panic swepped the group as their computers began to start shorting out.

"**Data retrieval complete... primary targets... Humans... 'Digimon'... severing connections...**" A.R.E.S. then said, the computers now exploding and the fire systems activating, concerns filling many of the staff.

"Shut it down, now!" Hashima yelled, with one of the scientists going to pull the plug on the platform that showed A.R.E.S, only for him to be electrocuted by a sudden surge of power from the outlets.

It was then that, much to Hashima's shock, a Digiport appeared behind the sphere, before it was sucked in, leaving the facility in ruins and many greatly harmed.

Had anyone took a moment to see one of the monitors before A.R.E.S. left and they shut down, they would have seen another symbol within A.R.E.S.', a red serpent, shaped like an L, with a glowing dot in the center.


	2. Chapter 2

Letting out a content sigh as she awoke from another pleasant night's rest, Kari Kamiya, the Digidestined of Light, smiled to herself as she thought about everything that had occurred over the past two years.

After the harrowing events with her corrupted future counterpart and allowing herself to admit to her true feelings, she and Davis were finally together, much to her joy and happiness, not only joyous to be with the one she loved, but she knew that with each day they were together Davis did all he could to to ensure Kari never felt as though he took her for granted.

The two continued dating throughout the rest of highschool, much to the shock, confusion and even jealousy of many of the other students were, on the night of their end of the school year dance, Kari brought her love to her place, knowing her parents and brother were out, and finally gave into her desires as the couple made love for the first time, a night Kari would always keep close to her heart.

Thinking back on their night together, Kari remembered how amazing a lover Davis was, showing her how much he cared as he made sure that she was taken care of first and foremost, not wanting to do anything without her permission, his kisses, his touch, everything he did made Kari moan and long for more, feeling that as she was given pleasure, Davis was giving her all his love.

And when he finally took her, Davis made sure she was comfortable first before they continued, with their actions slowly turning from loving to passionate, leading to the first of many long and wonderful nights, with Davis and Kari trying new things to keep their passion new, exciting and as pleasurable for each other.

After that, the pair moved in together, thanks in no small part to Sampson providing the funds for the pair to afford an apartment, the two attended their respective colleges, with Kari beginning classes to become the teacher she always wanted to be, while Davis attended a local culinary school, which he excelled at, putting his all into each class and into each meal he was tasked with making.

Still in her good mood, Kari then smiled, stretching her body and revealing that she was naked, a sign of another night of love making with her maroon haired lover, she thought about the others, looking at her nightstand to see the photo of Izzy and Mimi's wedding, the two quickly coming together after the incident with the Dark Kari and marrying almost a year later.

Likewise, Tai and Sora finally began dating, their relationship starting slow, but eventually gaining speed, with the pair now living together in the same apartment, sharing a bedroom as to allow Agumon and Biyomon to be together.

Meanwhile, TK, after a chance encounter in Axis City, ran into a familiar face one day, Catherine Deneuve, the French Digidestined he met all those years ago.

After a few meetings between the pair, they began to date, loving one another's company and Catherine confessing to TK that the first time they met, after Tai and TK had kissed her, she believed she had fallen for the blond.

And taking a chance for love, Catherine left Paris behind her in order to be with TK, moving into his apartment with her Floramon, who understood Catherine's feelings and made sure to give her distance, not only allowing TK and Catherine time together, but it allowed the plant Digimon to get closer to Patamon.

Matt, meanwhile, found himself in a position he never thought he would be in, dating Jun Momotiya, and actually enjoying himself.

Celebrating Mimi and Izzy's wedding, Davis had not only brought along Kari as his plus one, but loving weddings, Jun had convinced her brother into allowing her to join in on the special occasion.

Though Matt was worried at first, especially as fate seemed to conspire against him when Jun was seated next to him, showing a more calm, mature and less obsessed side to her as she managed to speak with him, Matt found Jun to be an interesting and caring woman.

And with the red dress she wore to the wedding, Matt couldn't help but take in her beauty, which lead to him asking her if she wanted to dance, leading to a date and soon lead to the pair becoming a couple themselves.

Even Joe had found someone, much to the others' amusement, as Miki had taken an interest in the Digidestined of Reliability, perceiving him as a smart and caring person, but could tell that behind all his modesty there was a great man she hoped to get out and spend her time with, her attempts to entice him often leaving Joe in a flustered state at times, much to Gomamon's amusement.

Through her still half closed eyes, Kari's smile grew as she thought about her friends, how over the last two years, they had made certain to include her and Davis in as much of their activities as possible, whether it was Cody wanting the pair to come to his kendo matches, giving Takato and the Tamers a hand at the bakery or even continuing to watch over the Digital World, and Kari made sure she was close by Davis' side.

Kari knew that they all still felt bad for the past, as well as the fact that Davis could have died two years ago, and they still wanted to make up for everything, showing the maroon haired man that he was a dear friend to them all.

Despite all the wonderful things that had happened in the past two years, however, Kari could not help but frown, knowing how different things could have been as she thought of her counterpart from the alternate timeline, of the pain, rage, hatred and cruelty she held inside of her, with Kari knowing that it could easily have been her as well feeling those emotions, causing her to wonder at times if she truly deserved Davis after all the pain she caused him, only for him to remind her each and every day how much he loved her.

She loved Davis from the moment she first saw him, when she first saw him smile, loving the time they spent together, even when he came to visit when she was sick, before Myotismon's invasion of Odaiba, making sure she was alright and putting a smile on her face.

All this made Kari grateful that they were finally together, able to move on with their lives without the fear of what could happen holding them back.

Blinking her tired eyes, Kari gained a confused look as she turned her head, surprised to see Davis not in bed with her, before a wonderful aroma filled her nostrils, causing her to sigh happily, knowing that her lover was making breakfast.

Getting up, the brunette quickly threw some clothing on, a pair of white panties and Davis' old soccer jersey, causing her to smirk a little, before she walked out of their bedroom, seeing her boyfriend in his boxers and a shirt as he continued to cook at the stove.

As Davis continued to cook, something Kari knew he loved to do, the brunette gave a smile, before walking over to her beloved, set her arms around his chest, pressing her body against his back as she embraced him.

"Good morning, Davis." Kari said, giving Davis a quickly kissing Davis' lips and feeling a tingle in her heart when Davis kissed her back.

"And good morning to you." Davis said with a smile after breaking the kiss, where he then said. "I was going to surprise you with breakfast in bed, but I guess we'll try another time."

The two lovers then felt something brush against their legs, looking down to see Gatomon on all fours as she rubbed her head against them, a dreamy look on her face, before remaining on all fours as she walked over towards Veemon, who stood at the doorway to their room, letting out a tired yawn, before Gatomon rubbed her head against him, being rewarded with an ear scratch from her lover.

"Looks like you two had a good night." Kari said in a playful tone, seeing the pair smiling sleepily back at her, before everyone took their seats at the table as Davis served breakfast.

"We should eat up and get ready. The other's will be waiting for us at the DPF." Davis said, though even he would rather just take the day off as, since the events of two years ago, there had been no real threats in the Digital World, with the Dark Legion defeated and the Demon Lords wiped out by their invasion.

"Can't we just call in sick?" Kari asked, grinning as she said with an enticing purr. "I'll be your nurse and you are my sexy patient who'll get much more than a lollipop if he's a good boy."

"As much as I like that idea, we still have our double date with Tai and Sora, and I don't want to get on Tai's bad side." Davis replied with a smirk, liking how kinky his girlfriend really was, but knew that they had to go about their day.

But seeing the pout on Kari's face, which he found cute, Davis grinned as he leaned in and whispered in his love's ear. "But I'll make it up to you tonight... all night long."

The brunette let out a giggle and nodded her head in reply, knowing that she was in for another amazing night with her beloved, Davis always being true to his word, where Veemon and Gatomon silently smiled at the scene as they ate, loving how happy their partners were together.

-An hour later-

Having gotten dressed into their DPF uniforms after their breakfast, accounting for Veemon and having made extras, the four ported to the Digital World and were now walking down the hallways of the large tower structure the DPF used as their headquarters chatting away as Kari started asking Davis with an enticing voice. "So what exactly do you have in mind for later? Because I was thinking..."

"Could you two please not talk about that here!" Airu yelled as she, Yuu and their Digimon walked by, the male blond confused by her outburst, while Airu glared at Kari with a bright blush on her face.

During one of the girls' get togethers after Kari and Davis started dating, the girls began talking about their lovers, with the brunette going a little overboard with giving details, which caused the other girls to rush home quickly to 'relieve some tension', trying not to imagine the maroon haired boy as their lover, with a few failing poorly and some rushing to their boyfriend's, not caring what they were doing, no matter what time it was, they needed them.

"Ah, don't be a spoil sport, Airu. We have every right to express our love and discuss our plans, like a certain blonde once did, telling me about her boyfriend, his bed and a feather duster." Kari said with a smirk, causing the blonde girl to blush madly, before grabbing Yuu by the hand and dragging him off, their partners shrugging and following, causing Davis, Kari and their Digimon to giggle at the sight.

"Who do you think is really in charge of their relationship?" Kari asked with a grin as she looked at Davis, who grinned back as he thought and replied. "Well she acts tough all the time, but I think in bed..."

"He's in charge?" Kari finished with a smirk, before the lovers laughed, with them continuing to walk down the hallway, soon finding Izzy, Mimi, Tentomon and Palmon in one of the lounge rooms, the redhead seeming interested on something on TV, while Mimi looked slightly curious, which was out of character for her.

"Hey guys, we're glad you're here!" Palmon said as she waved at the group, who came in, looking to see the TV showing a news report about some ruins on their Earth.

"They found these ruins just a few miles from Odaiba, they're over ten thousand years old!" Izzy said with enthusiasm as he looked at the Digidestined and Digimon of Light and Miracles, confusing them as Gatomon asked. "I thought you were a computer guy? Since when do ruins interest you?"

Izzy paused the TV and did a rewind, pausing it again at a certain image, one that caused Kari and Davis to look surprised, for etched into one of the walls of this ruin was the Crest of Light and the Crest of Miracles.

"The Digital World didn't exist until computers were first made, so how does a ruin that's ten thousand years old have them in several sections of it?" Mimi asked in reply to the question, which caused the four to look at Mimi like she was someone else.

'Guess being married to Izzy has rubbed off on her. What's next, Izzy wanting to get into fashion?' Davis thought, before shaking the image of Izzy at a clothing store and going nuts with his purchases out of his head.

"There isn't much else on this, but it's something we should keep an eye on." Izzy then said, causing him to turn off the TV as he, Mimi and their partners joined Davis, Kari and their Digimon as they left the lounge, ready to head towards the others, before seeing Rika and Renamon walk down the hallway towards them.

'Perfect.' Kari thought with a smile as the Tamer and her partner approached the group, where the brunette looked at the others and asked. "Do you guys mind going on ahead? I need to talk to Rika about something."

"Ok." Davis replied without question, getting nods from the others as Renamon joined the group as they headed towards the training rooms the others were in, leaving Kari and Rika alone, a situation that made the Digimon Queen very nervous.

Rika remembered the aftermath of the party they had after the Dark Queen's defeat in Davis' honour all too well, where she had learnt, after getting over her hangover, that she and a few of the other girls had tried to hit on Davis, and ended up in a cat fight with Kari over him.

And while she and the girls tried to deny it, not remembering what had happened, Jeremy had unfortunately recorded the incident on his phone, and Kari would from time to time remind them about what they tried to do with her boyfriend.

"So.. um... what do you want to talk about?" Rika asked with some nervousness in her tone, especially seeing the smile on Kari's face, an innocent one that seemed to hide something much more mischievous.

"Well, you know Davis' Birthday is in a few weeks, right?" Kari asked, causing Rika to nod in reply, not too sure where the conversation was going, before the brunette continued and began to say. "Well I wanted to do something special for him and..."

Kari then leaned in and whispered into Rika's ear, before moving back, the smile still on her face as she asked. "Think about it? You don't have to answer right away."

Finished in their conversation, Kari then turned and began to walk away, not looking to see the redhead's eyes widen, her mouth agape, and a blush on her face matching her hair as she tried to process what she had just heard.

It took her five minutes before she snapped out of the new thoughts that filled her head and quickly ran to join the others.

-Three hours later-

Within the cafeteria of the DPF, the Digi-heroes were all enjoying lunch, save for Davis and Veemon, who said they had something to take care of and would join their friends later.

However, unlike the meals they were used to, the Digi-heroes found themselves greatly enjoying the food, with everyone commenting on how great it tasted, save for Kari and Gatomon, who remained silent with smiles on their faces as they ate.

"This tastes great! Did we get a new chef or something?" Tai asked as he enjoyed the burger he was eating, while Agumon stuffed his face with the rice balls alongside Guilmon.

"Not that I'm aware of, but I'm not complaining!" Yoshi replied as she enjoyed the bowl of miso soup she had gotten her hands on, not caring as Marcus, Tagiru, their Agumon and Gumdramon practically devoured the food they were eating.

"Are you sure? Because I've been to five star restaurants that haven't tasted this good." Nene then said, to which Hawkmon added. "I do believe I tasted food this divine once at Digitamamon's a few weeks back, but it hasn't tasted this good since."

"Maybe we got one of his employees to work here." Takuya guessed, smiling as he added. "Either way, this is one of the best meals I've had in ages."

"I'll cheer to that!" Airu then said with a big smile as she got up and yelled towards the kitchen. "You're amazing, Mr. Chef, you can cook for us anytime!"

The door to the kitchen then opened half way before, much to the surprise of most of the group, Davis and Veemon popped their heads out, both wearing aprons and had hair nets on their heads as the maroon haired boy said in reply. "Thanks, Airu. And we've got more food on the way, so we hope you saved room."

The pair then reentered the kitchen, where the Digi-heroes remained shocked, before they all looked at Kari and Gatomon, seeing the pair still eating with smiles on their faces, before Zoe asked in surprise. "You both knew he was in there cooking?"

"Yep, Davis is such an amazing cook, the salmon he made for me the other night was divine." Gatomon said as she put her hands together and rested her head on them, looking at nothing with starry eyes as she remembered the wonderful tasting fish she had.

"Davis is taking his cooking classes seriously. Not to mention the fact that we go out every now and then to try now things he can work on, like a dish he found at a restaurant in Paris we went to last week for lunch." Kari replied, getting nods from the whole group, before their eyes widened in surprise again as Mimi asked. "How did you guys have lunch in Paris?"

"Digi-ports." Kari replied simply, smiling as she added with gratitude. "It was Davis' idea. It was a little present he had prepared for me a week ago, managing to book us a table overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

"With the Digi-ports we can travel wherever we want without worrying about the plane fare or hotels." Gatomon added, she too recalling how romantic the night was, going along with Veemon and spending the night under the starry sky.

"That... actually is smart." Koji then said as he thought about it, the others agreeing and were once again surprised by Davis' ability to plan ahead.

Meanwhile, Rika remained silent, a light blush on her face as she thought about what Kari had said to her, where she started to think in her head. 'Should I go for it? I mean, yes, I do still have a light crush on him and all but...'

'What is there to think about? It's the chance of a lifetime!' Another voice in her head then stated, one that sounded just like Rika's as her more lustful side tried to influence her.

'But he loves Kari and...' Rika protested, trying to think rationally, but found the more she thought about Kari's words, the more open she was into agreeing.

'So? Do I need to remind you it was Kari who asked you, not Davis? Try not to think too much on this, just think of this as a chance to make you, Kari and Davis all happy.' The voice said with some rationality, which was lost as it then stated. 'Besides, it sounds hot! And you already have a few ideas on what we can bring to the party.'

Rika then quickly shook the mental image she just got out of her head of what Kari had asked of her as she thought. 'I shouldn't think like this, they are my friends...'

'Sure. Friends have thoughts like that of one another all the time.' The voice said with a smug tone as Rika was left with a bright blush after that, thankfully not noticed by anyone, save two, her partner and Kari, who smirked a little at the look on rika's face.

The friendly bantering, however, was broken as the alarms began blaring, where Sampson's voice was heard over the comms. "Alert, one of the towns outlining Axis City is under attack, they need support immediately!"

"Looks like it's back to work for us." Tai said as everyone finished what they could and rushed to the command center, not sure what was going on, and having no idea what was waiting for them.

-Ten minutes later-

After the DPF had been briefed on the latest disturbance within the Digital World, with the command unable to get a visual on the attackers hitting the town, through his lead, Sampson had assigned Agunimon, Takato, Growlmon, Mikey, OmniShoutmon, Joe, Gomamon, Rika, Kyubimon, Kazemon, Keenan, Peckmon, Tagiru and Arresterdramon all ran towards the settlement, seeing smoke rising from the buildings, while the rest of the team waited in the DPF command room, watching their friends on the monitors.

"Be careful. We still have no visuals on the attackers or any information on what they are capable of." Megumi informed through the comms.

"Copy, we..." Agunimon started to say as the group rounded the corner, before stopping as they saw the attackers, causing the Warrior of Flame to start to ask. "What the...?!"

The attackers resembled metallic skeletons with various weapons on their arms, ranging from blasters to melee weapons, where one of the robotic creatures turned its skull-like head toward the Digi-heroes, its red eyes glowing as it said. "Assisting targets... identified as individuals labeled 'Digi-heroes'... Commence Termination..."

Acting quickly, fire began to spread across his hands as Agunimon called out. "Pyro Darts!"

"Hurricane Winds!" Kazemon followed up, casting her fingertips in streams of pink wind that she then threw, forming a tornado, which shot around Agunimon's attack, working as a team to increase the velocity of Agunimon's inferno.

The attacks slammed into the robot, sending it crashing into a wall behind it as it short circuited, before dissipating into Data, where Agunimon saw the other robots starting to gather as he said. "Ok guys, we need to..."

But before he could finish, a blast from far away slammed into Agunimon's right shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain as the shot went through his arm, shocking those around him and those watching as Kazemon cried out. "Takuya!"

Falling to his knees, gripping his shoulder in pain as Joe moved over to check on him as to examine and assess the damage, the others looked around for who fired the shot, soon spotting what looked like a small Digimon on a rooftop not too far away.

"Who is that?" Sampson asked as the monitors zoomed in on the unidentified Digimon, allowing those back in the briefing room to see the attacker, where the unknown Digimon looked a little like Gumdramon, only this particular figure was twice Gumdramon's size, his face was concealed by a mask and a set of electronics around his right eye, while spiky purple spikes ran along his head.

And while a small blaster-like weapon was fastened to his left arm, in his right, he was wielding a sniper rifle, allowing the DPF to see that this particular Digimon was a long ranged fighter.

Finally, on its forehead, above the small gun resting on his mask, was a symbol that looked like a glowing red sword with flames around it.

"Who is it, what does the Data show?" Tai asked as he looked at Izzy, who was trying to get information on this Digimon.

"I'm afraid we cannot get a reading, sir." Megumi informed, continuing to type at her monitor, trying to see if there were any bugs, glitches or hacking systems preventing her from gathering the data she desired, but found the systems were all clear.

"It's a Digital Lifeform, but it's not reading as a Digimon." Izzy added, able to induct that the creature was made of Data, but he had no clue as to what this being really was, nor what was going on, shocking the group as they watched the screen, not paying attention as the doorway to the command center opened.

"Sir, we need to talk." Miki said with some urgency, but the DATS commander had other problems to deal with, not even bothering to turn as he said. "Not now, Miki, we need..."

"Now, Samspon." A familiar voice to the DATS commander then called, causing everyone to turn and look at the new arrivals.

Back at the town, the group gathered around the injured Agunimon as the robots began to fire at them, with the unknown being opening fire once again, with Arresterdramon pushing Tagiru out of the way, the blast missing both as it punched through the wall behind where they were standing.

"We need to act fast!" Takato said, before Rika got an idea, where she took out her D-Power and one of her more powerful Digimon Cards, the image containing Cherubimon in its evil form and casting down a set of lightning bolts.

"Digi-Modify! Heaven's Judgement activate!" Rika announced as she ran her Card through her D-Power, causing Kyubimon's eyes to lose their pupils and turn a shade of yellow and to give off a fearsome roar as a transparent copy of the fallen angel Digimon appeared around her, shooting up into the skies, which then darkened, before an onslaught of thunder crashed down, not only striking at their new enemies, but also forming a barrier, allowing the group to make their retreat.

Having moved out of the way of the lighting strikes, but seeing its robotic servants destroyed, the mysterious being looked to see the Digi-heroes in retreat, before raising its gun up as it disappeared in a beam of red energy.

"Ok, what the heck was that..?" Takuya asked through his pain as he reverted back to his human form, resting on Kyubimon's back with Rika as he nursed his wound, the bandages Joe put on him holding well.

"Everyone, return to base, there's been a... 'development'." Sampson said through the comms, a tone of disdain in his voice, causing the group to look at one another in worry, their lives about to become much more complicated.


	3. Chapter 3

Upon the group's return to the DPF tower, with Joe checking on Takuya's wound, finding the brunette had sustained less damage than anticipated due to him being in his Human Spirit form at the time, the group entered the command room, surprised to see not only Yamaki and Gennai there as well, but another man who only Keenan and Falcomon recognized with his arm in a sling and a bandage around his forehead.

"For those of you who don't know..." Sampson started to say as he watched Joe and Zoe help Takuya sit, with the other Legendary Warriors checking on him as Joe continued to make sure his bandage was ok, before the DATS Commander continued and told the Digi-Heroes. "This is Hashima, a representative from the Japanese Confidentiality Ministry, whose responsibility is to oversee DATS."

"And someone we're not on good terms with." Marcus then added with a glare, one the other DATS members shared, remembering how this man had their memories erased after he believed Kurata's lies, but Hashima paid no attention, not caring the slightest as to what the younger of the DATS thought of him.

"Moving on, our guest has some information to share about what you guys encountered out there, information he's been reluctant to share until everyone was present." Sampson finished as all the Digi-heroes and the rest of those in the room gave the older man their attention.

"For the past two years, we've been working with various agencies across the five Earths, including Hypnos, to develop a man-made artificial intelligence, using data from a signal that was intercepted from the Breach, which has unfortunately gone rogue and is now in the Digital World." Hashima said in a serious tone as he showed the main monitor, which had a copy of the coding of the A.I. on it as the older man added. "It was dubbed the Artificial Reality Extermination System."

"That sounds stupid." Kazu said as he held in a laugh, while Davis rolled his eyes and said. "It's the acronym, A.R.E.S., after the God of War."

Davis then noticed most of the group looking at him, where he shrugged and asked. "What? So I know a little Greek mythology."

"He has Kari to thank for that." Veemon explained, grinning a little as he recalled how Kari would come from time to time to tutor Davis, which made Davis just light up, knowing that while it wasn't technically a date, he still got to be alone with his girl.

"Plus that trip the Pantheon in Athens last month helped." The Digimon of Miracles added, causing the others to look at the V marked Digimon, before remembering them all talk about Davis and Kari's Digi-port adventures around the world.

Continuing on, Hashima then added. "The A.I. was designed to fight in the event that a major threat from the Digital World threatened the safety of the Earths... even from all of you."

"Excuse me?" Tai let out, feeling insulted by what he just heard, along with the other Digi-heroes, with some starting to hate Hashima and wanted to punch him in the face.

"Two years ago, the Digital World received some unexpected visitors, alternate versions of some of you from a different timeline at the head of a massive army that not only conquered the Digital World of their time, but all the Earths as well." Hashima explained, keeping a serious face despite the glares he was getting, while Kari felt horrible being reminded of her counterpart as Davis held her hand reassuringly.

"But that timeline was prevented and Kari isn't a threat!" Shoutmon yelled in anger, defending the Digidestined of Light.

"Yes, this time, but what about the next? And what's to say that none of you would follow a similar path, willingly or otherwise? The future is uncertain, and the higher up didn't want to run the risk of one of you going rogue and the rest of you unable to stop them. We needed a contingency plan." Hashima justified, making sure to keep an eye especially on Marcus, knowing his temper all too well.

Had it not been for Yoshi's hand on his shoulder, Marcus knew by now Hashima would be on the floor.

"So you made an A.I. from a signal that's origin was unknown and set it loose on us?" Thomas asked in growing anger over the stupidity of the higher ups, feeling a repetition of the past and how their mistakes continued to cause them problems they had to fix.

"Our researchers said that it was nothing more than a based code, everything else on it we built from the ground up. We activated it to give it its first test run, but seconds after turning on it turned, gathering what Data it could from the servers and destroying the facility, before opening a Digi-port and sending itself here. I was among the few to get out." Hashima stated, raising his injured arm as proof, before adding. "Those robotic drones were preprogrammed attack units A.R.E.S. was given to construct from raw data, that other creature I have no idea where it came from."

"Sure you don't..." Takuya said sarcastically with a groan, putting his hand back on his shoulder as he felt the pain flare up again, where Zoe knelt next to him, making sure he was ok, keeping a close eye on her beloved to make sure he didn't strain himself.

"This coding is advanced..." Izzy said with a great curiosity as he looked at the data on the monitor, where he added. "It's possible whatever it originally was might have been dormant and by adding it to A.R.E.S. its original personality merged with it and took over."

"Izzy, didn't you hear what he said? Aren't you mad?!" Yolei yelled, flabbergasted that those they thought were their allies had made a weapon against them and labeled them as a potential threat.

"I'm pissed off, but losing our temper isn't going to help us right now. We need to find where A.R.E.S. is and where its drones took the Digimon from the town." Izzy replied as he typed on the computer, before one of the monitors showed a map of the region, where a blinking red dot was flashing in the mountain area near the town that was attacked.

"I'm picking up a signal matching A.R.E.S. from this area, looks like a base has been built into the mountain. The Digimon might be here." Izzy said as he turned and looked at the others.

"Good, I want payback against that little bastard..." Takuya said as he started to stand, only for the pain to flare up again as he gripped his shoulder, where Zoe steadied him, wrapping her arms around the Warrior of Flame as she looked at him with concern.

"You're staying here and resting. We'll send a team in to recon the area." Sampson said as he looked at Takuya, before giving Hashima a side glance as he began to give out orders.

-Several minutes later-

Walking ahead of a large group of Commandramon and Sealsdramon, the primary force of the DPF, Izzy and Tentomon took the lead, with the Digidestined of Knowledge using his laptop to track the signal to the base, while behind him, Beelzemon, Yuu, Tuwarmon, Kazu, Guardromon, Ken, Wormmon, Cody, Armadillomon, Matt, Gabumon and Sora walked together.

Above them, Biyomon flew with Kazemon and Beetlemon as they surveyed the area for any traps, while beneath them, Davis, Kari and Gatomon rode together on Raidramon's back, the two Digidestined lost in thought over what had transpired.

Kari, for one, blamed herself for the creation of A.R.E.S., remembering that it was her dark counterpart's actions that drove the agencies to make the A.I., while Davis blamed himself, just as he did when the incident happened two years ago, knowing that it was because of his loss that caused the darkness to corrupt the Kari of that timeline, driving her to launch her invasion of the past, just to get him back and lead her warped view of the future.

"You guys alright?" Sora asked as she moved next to Raidramon, snapping Kari and Davis out of their thoughts, where Biyomon flew down and beside the group, sensing their negative emotions, where the Digimon of Love said with a caring tone. "You guys don't have to blame yourselves for this, none of this is your fault."

Blinking, Davis and Kari asked each other in unison. "Why are you blaming yourself?"

Blinking again, the two sighed, knowing how this was affecting one another, while Sora did her best not to let out a squeal at the loving scene as the two tried to comfort one another, Kari keeping her arms around Davis' chest as they rode Raidramon's back, wrapping tighter and burying her head into Davis' back, finding comfort within her beloved and trying her best to hide her tears.

"Kari, you aren't to blame for anything. Remember, that other Kari was not you, but a dark version that was manipulated through her emotions." Davis then said, able to tell that his love was in distress, a solemn expression gracing Davis' face as he stated. "And it's my fault anyways. If it wasn't for me, then that Kari wouldn't have suffered. She might've been better if I never existed... She'd..."

"Don't... don't you dare blame yourself..." Kari said as she held him tightly, as though afraid that he would disappear any second, keeping her hands around Davis as she stated. "You are the best thing that happened to me. Everyday you continue to make me feel special... I... I should've listened to my heart over my head and accepted a date from you instead of just dismissing you... Maybe if we wound up together earlier, than the other Kari wouldn't have had such darkness and pain in her heart..."

Most of those nearby remained silent, letting the two lovers talk, knowing that at times like this, they needed their peace, where Gatomon remained close to Raidramon, resting her arms around his neck, not only respecting Kari's feelings, but feeling her own loving emotions come to her.

Allowing Davis and Kari to talk, with Raidramon slowing down a little, having to ask as her curiosity came, Kazemon called. "How much further, Izzy?"

Though Kazemon was following her orders, she namely wanted to find those who had harmed Takuya and make them suffer, payback on behalf of the Warrior of Flame.

"Not too far." Izzy replied, still checking his map as the group continued walking.

"I still can't believe after all we've done that they could do this to us. Man, it ticks me off." Kazu said in anger as he clenched his fist, still angry over the fact that the government agencies would turn on them so easily.

"No arguments here, pal." Beetlemon said in reply, he too feeling a fair amount of disdain toward the higher ups and adding. "Even though we were never bothered after Lucemon showed his ugly face in the Real World, it still stinks that governments continue to try and blame us for their actions."

"First with Hypnos and their Juggernaut and then allowing Kurata to do whatever he liked." Matt added with disgust, where Gabumon nodded and said with a soft positivity in his voice. "True. But at least with Hypnos, Yamaki learnt from his mistakes and is trying to work with us."

"Guys..." Davis cut in as Raidramon moved back up with the group as the maroon haired Digidestined then said. "I know you're all pissed, but honestly, I can't blame them, not after what happened."

"You're joking, right?!" Kazemon asked in disbelief, where Davis shook his head as he then added. "I've seen our worlds after the Dark Legion was done with them, they were wastelands, with what was left of humanity and Digimon hiding in the shadows, trying to survive. I don't agree with what they've done, but I understand the fear going through them."

"Plus, I know all of you well enough to know that you are all more angry at being reminded of what happened two years ago, as well as what could have happened." Davis finished, seeing most of the group lost in thought, with Izzy and Tentomon shuddering as they remembered the insane Digimon they could have become in that timeline, Kazu and Guardromon at the idea of losing their friends, Kazemon, Beetlemon at the monsters they could have been made into, and most of the others reflecting their possible deaths.

"Davis is right, but right now we need to put blame aside and focus on the task at hand." Cody said, getting a nod from the others as they focused on finding the entrance to the base.

Back at the command center, most within the briefing room were lost in their own thoughts over the words they had heard Davis say, while standing next to Sampson, Hashima let out a sigh.

"Off the record, I did not support this project at all. There were too many unknown sources which backed up and greatly funded the support of an A.I., not caring for the consequences, and now it seems we are paying for that blink hubris." Hashima stated, his honesty a surprise to most in the room.

Back in the field, the group finally came to a large metal door, which was slid open slightly, where the group entered cautiously, finding it seemingly abandoned as they went through.

"This is too quiet." Beelzemon said, holding his shotguns close, ready to shoot on sight, while knowing that if he needed any further assistance, Ai and Mako were a call away.

Advancing further and down a dark hall, the group then entered a large room with dozens of tube-like pods around the chamber, as well as a large computer with several monitors at the far end of the room.

Inside each pod were the Digimon that were taken from the town, all floating in a gel-like substance and seemingly in a deep sleep where Kari and Gatomon approached a pod with a Meicoomon in it, seeing the Digimon waking and reacting as it tried to knock on the glass.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out." Kari said reassuringly, before a loud humming sound was heard in the tube, causing Kari, Gatomon and the Meicoomon to look up as a bright light formed its head.

The next thing that happened, the Meicoomon started screaming in pain, terrifying Kari as the Digimon began dissolving into data particles right before her eyes, while back in the command centner, everyone watched in horror, while Yamaki's eyes widened in recognition.

"Get them out of there! It's using the Juggernaut program to collect their data!" Yamaki yelled through the comms, sending the recon team off as everyone rushed to break open the pods, the Commandramon using the backs of their guns to break the glass, helping the Digimon out before the machines could activate.

It was then that a red light began to flash in the room, as well as the loud sounds of an alarm filling everyone's ears.

"**Data conversion interrupted... Intruders detected... Intruders must be eliminated... Scorpmon... Mienumon... Sakusimon... Do not fail me again...**" A loud, ominous voice said throughout the facility, causing everyone to look as a dozen drones started to come out of openings in the walls.

"We need to move, now! Go, get the Digimon out of here!" Davis said to the Commandramon and Sealsdramon, who nodded in reply, respecting Davis and his selfless act, where they helped carry the other Digimon to safety, be it a recently Digivolved Kunemon or a rusting Knightmon, nobody was being left behind.

"Thunder Blast!" Raidramon called out as he fired electricity from his horn at the drones, shorting out most of the drones before they could exit the walls.

"Thunder Fist!" Beetlemon followed up with his own electrical attack as he slammed his fist into the ground, sending a wave of electricity that destroyed the last few drones.

"Alright, now let's..." Matt started to say, before a series of lights covered the group, creating what looked like a line of red squares to appear all around the floor, before a large, metal door closed the room off, cutting the Digi-heroes off from the exit.

The group then turned when they heard three wicked laughs, seeing by the computer the figure that attacked Takuya, along with two others.

While both beings looked like humanoid Digimon, knowing that if they were sided with the sniper wielder, then there would be more to them than expected, Davis and the others took a moment to examine their new foes, taking in the appearance of the first, which looked like a young girl that was clad in a black dress, different coloured boots, with the left matching her black dress and the right a light shade of pink, while a bandana with two chameleon-like eyes on it rested atop her head.

And as creepy as her bandana, her visible, gleaming yellow eye and her pale blue skin was, it was nothing when compared to the pink chameleon-like puppet she had attached to her left arm, its tongue swung around as it seemed to stare at the Digi-heroes.

After getting over the female figure and her creepy puppet, the group stared at the second being, which wasn't as disturbing as the girl and her toy, but they could sense that this being held a dark and terrible power.

Standing and staring at the Digi-heroes with a wicked smile, Davis and the others could tell that this being was a male, one that used close ranged combat due to the giant fan-like weapon he carried, though he was still surrounded by mystery due to the dark robes that covered his body and the silver and gold coloured mask stitched together upon his face.

And like their sniper companion, both beings had the same red mark on their foreheads resembling a sword with flames circling around it.

"Now it's time to play with our new friends." The female creature said with a playfulness in her voice, turning to her allies and asking. "What do you think, Sakusimon?"

"To move is to death / Step on the tiles and see / Witness your demise." The one known as Sakusimon replied casually.

Blinking, Kazu asked in confusion. "Is this guy speaking in Haikus?"

"Whatever he is, he's..." Beelzemon started to say as he began to walk towards the trio, guns in hand, before stopping as he felt his legs freeze in place.

"What the?" The Demon Digimon yelled as he looked down, seeing his legs turning to stone at a quick rate, causing panic to fill not only Beelzemon but those watching.

Quickly realizing what their enemy mean by his talking, Davis yelled out. "Guys, watch where you step!"

Before Davis could do anymore, however, he turned just as Sakusimon closed the distance between them, delivering a swift kick to the maroon haired boy's chest, sending him skidding a few feet to the side.

"Davis!" Kari, Gatomon and Raidramon all yelled in concern, where Davis began to get up, right as a large pillar of rock appeared behind him, where four cuffs then came out of the rock and grabbed Davis' arms and legs, pulling him to the rock and restraining him, continuing to worry Kari and the others, but not as much as when the Digidestined of Miracles was shocked by a surge of dark red electricity.

"Oh, this is fun." Sakusimon said, laughing at Davis' obvious pain. "I've missed this so much."

"Just remember why were summoned here, Sakusimon." The sniper wielder cut in, glaring at Sakusimon with a seriousness, before turning his attention to the Digimon that had managed to escape Sakusimon's trap, Biyomon and Kazemon, turning his sniper upon them and firing with pinpoint accuracy, delivering a clean hit to both Digimon and causing both to cry in pain as they crashed to the floor.

"No, stop..." Sora started to yell, not wanting to see Biyomon or her friends harmed further, about to rush over, not caring what the traps did to her, but felt something wrap tightly around her neck, causing her to reach up and try to grab whatever it was that held her as those around her tried to see what was happening.

"Where do you think you're going, sweetie?" Sora heard the female figure ask, but found no sight of her, where the Digidestined of Love continued to struggle against whatever force was being used to strangle her, feeling it continuing to tighten around her neck and the hiding girl to chuckle at her suffering.

"Sora!" Raidramon yelled as he tried to rush over to her, but despite jumping over the square, a bolt of electricity came crashing down onto his back, not only damaging the Digimon of Courage and Friendship greatly, but the impact of the thunder slammed Raidramon down and onto the ground, where he De-Digivolved back to Veemon, who groaned in pain.

"Veemon!" Gatomon cried out in worry, afraid to move and trigger another trap, a feeling going through the others as they tried to move, trying their best to combat the trap they were forced into.

"This is bad, we have to go help them!" Tai yelled as those at the base watched in terror as their friends were being thrashed, just as the sniper user opened fire on Beelzemon, who could only shield himself with his right arm, absorbing some of the damage, but could feel each shot fill him with pain.

Back in the base, Kari watched on with growing fear, mostly as she looked at Davis, who received another electric shock as he tried to free himself from his restraints.

'What do I do, what do I do?!' The Digidestined of Light thought in a panic, just before she felt a shadow over her, looking up to see Sakusimon in the air, his fan pointed as though to attack her.

"Poor Digidestined. / Your knight cannot save you now. / Sakusimon wins." Sakusimon said with a dark laugh as he lunged towards Kari, ready to strike her down with his fan, which glistened in the light as though it was metal.

"Kari!" Davis, those in the room and those in the command center all cried out in fear as the being rushed at her, looking as though it would be the end for the Digidestined of Light.

Kari, however, felt herself lose control of her body as something in the back of her mind pushed forwards, taking control.

Before Sakusimon's attack made contact, Kari's left hand rose up and a dark energy barrier appeared between her and the fan, which set of dark electric sparks as it collided with the barrier, confusing Sakusimon as he felt a strange power grow from the girl, while everyone else looked on in shock.

Alarmed, Sakusimon jumped back next to his sniper friend, while the female being appeared next to him, showing that her puppet's tongue had been wrapped around Sora's neck, the cause of her restraint, which let go of the Digidestined of Love and returned to its form as the trio looked at Kari, whose head was looking down at the ground.

Everyone then watched in shock and worry as a shadow formed around Kari's feet, slowly moving around her body and taking the form of a familiar set of dark armour, robes and metallic wings as a familiar headband and black gem appeared around her forehead.

"Kari?" Davis asked through his pain, a sense of dread filling him at what he was seeing.

"No matter what trick you have; you have no hope against us." Sakusimon said with a smirk, which quickly turned into a frown as they heard the girl chuckle darkly.

"Hope?" Kari asked as she looked up, startling everyone to see a red hue around her irises, before the brunette gained a smirk as she then said in a voice filled with cruelty and malice. "I am the Death of Hope!"

For Davis and the Digi-heroes, both present and watching, the startling realization hit them hard.

The Dark Queen was alive and in control of their Kari's mind and her body.

Things just went from bad to worse.


	4. Chapter 4

'What's going on?! What's happening?!' Kari thought in panic, as she held no control over her body and things were happening she had no control over.

All she could do was watch as her body seemed to act on its own, frightening her, worried she might harm Davis or those she deeply cherished.

'Calm down, will you? I just took over for a little bit.' A familiar voice rang in her mind, one Kari recognized as she said in fear. 'You... But how...?'

'I'll explain in due time, but for now, I have these annoying Appmon to deal with.' The Dark Queen thought, leaving Kari in a small panic with lots of questions.

How was her dark counterpart alive? Why was she inside of her? Was Davis and her friends alright? ... And what exactly is an Appmon?

Back in the physical world, the Digi-heroes in the room, as well as the three beings that were attacking them looked at the newly reborn Dark Queen with a mix of fear, confusion, and anger.

Acting quickly, Mienumon turned invisible once again, quickly closing the gap between her and Kari as she tried to deliver a quick kick to her side, only for the female creature's foot to collide with another barrier, causing Mienumon to freak out slightly as she reappeared and jumped back next to Sakusimon and their sniper ally.

"She's playing dirty!" Mienumon said with a pout, before tugging at the sniper's rifle and demanding. "Shoot her, Scorpmon! Blast her to bits!"

"You three are annoying, you know that? Now just stand there and die." The Dark Queen said in a calm and almost menacing tone, unnerving the others, before Mienumon and Sakusimon jumped into to try and attack her.

Meanwhile, Scorpmon tried firing blasts at Kari, only for the barrier to protect her, before she raised her left hand, pointing her index finger at the sniper, where a small blast of dark energy shot out, shocking everyone as it not only pierced the sniper's body, but caused it to burst into data, leaving a strange square microchip in his place.

Though Scorpmon had been defeated, it seemed as though Mienumon and Sakusimon planned to survive the wrath of the Dark Queen, Sakusimon managing to sweep up the microchip and proclaimed. "Death is not for us./ Our lives shall not be vanquished./ At least not by you."

Acting as a team, the pair then moved to strike Kari from the sides, Sakusimon drawing his fan and Mienumon's chameleon puppet to extend its tongue, only for shadowy tendrils to come out of nowhere and grab the pair by their arms and legs, throwing Sakusimon and Mienumon off to the sides, where they quickly moved as Kari swung her arms at their directions, causing the ground to crack from the shockwaves of energy, where the red lines vanished and the other Digi-heroes were free to move, to which Kazemon and Beetlemon helped Davis up, along with Gatomon helping Veemon up as they watched the scene with continued worry, not sure who to help at the moment.

"We need to go help them! Send us in!" Tai yelled, but Sampson yelled back. "We can't. We need a plan if we are going to face someone like her."

"But..." Takuya tried to add, he too concerned for Kari and the others, before Gennai said. "Our chance will come. I have faith in it."

Back at the base, Sakusimon tried to swing his fan at Kari once again, only for more tendrils to come out of nowhere and wrap around his arms and legs, holding him in the air for a moment before, much to the horror of those watching, Kari's eyes glowed and a blast of energy shot at the cloaked figure, causing Sakusimon to cry out in pain as he dissolved, leaving a similar chip where he met his demise, one Mienumon quickly grabbed with the tongue of her puppet, bringing it close to her.

"You wanna fight, little girl? So be it!" Mienumon called with fury as she held Sakusimon's chip close to her, the air around her blowing hard as she began to glow with a dark red light, her hair lifting up as her other eye was revealed, showing it was a shade of purple with an unknown yellow pattern instead of pupils within, before the Dark Queen and those around watched as Mienumon changed form.

Seemingly harnessing the power of Sakusimon through the microchip in her possession, Mienumon gave a wicked grin as she turned from her physical form and into a form of pure data, which shot into the air, alongside the remaining data of her comrade, before both forms of data collided, the sight a reminder of the Digidestined's power to DNA Digivolve, but with their puppeteer foe, it brought forth despair.

As Mienumon's being came back, it showed she had changed greatly, not only losing her chameleon puppet and growing in size, to the point she all but looked down upon the Dark Queen, but that her physical appearance had changed along the way.

While she retained her grey skin, the same blue hair and the same menacing smile from before, the new being had lost her childish form and her black dress, looking more mature as she was cast in a pink leotard and matching skirt, not only showing her more slender figure, but also her developed chest.

Upon her arms were a set of pink gloves that ran up and reached just below her elbows, which ran out past her hand, looking like a secondary set of clawed fingers, her feet were cast in a pair of pink high heeled boots, while a cape with a dark black trim on the inside flowed behind her.

Atop her head was a witch-like hat, creeping many of the Digi-heroes out at seeing what looked like fang-like ornaments dangled at the ends, while a hand dangled from the top.

Finally, like her other form and former allies, this being had a mark on her forehead resembling a glowing red sword with flames circling around it, grinning darkly as the power flowed through her, and what she could do to her enemies.

"You will regret making me take you seriously." The new being said with a dark laugh.

"Probably not. I haven't been taking you or your pathetic friends seriously this entire time." The Dark Queen replied nonchalantly, causing the being to growl, while the Digi-heroes paled as they realized Kari had not taken a single step since her body was possessed, showing them how little the Dark Kari thought of her enemies and how easily she dispatched them.

The being that used to be Mienumon then rose her hands, before Kari said in a bored tone. "I wouldn't try that. Your puppet tricks won't work on me, and unlike the other me, I don't care much about what happens to the rest of them."

Growling slightly in frustration, especially at the apparent fact that her opponent seemed to know all her tricks, the being rushed at Kari, ready to use her claw-like glove to cut the girl in half, only to be shocked as Kari merely held her left index finger out, halting her attack like it was nothing and causing the being to jump back as her rage consumed her.

"That's it, you'll die now!" The being called in fury as her hat grew, seemingly consuming her as it morphed, before turning into a large squid-like creature with teeth as it let out a roar, charing right at Kari, who continued to have a bored expression, even as Davis cried out in fear and despair. "Kari! Move!"

However, instead of moving, the Dark Queen merely held her left palm out, as though offering something, where a small black orb of energy formed in her hand and floated towards the being, causing it to stop, before everyone felt a great vacuum-like force coming from the sphere, causing the being to scream in pain before it was sucked in, the orb disappearing, leaving nothing behind of the being.

"Did... did she just make a black hole?" Thomas asked in shock from the command center as everyone watched in horror, shocked at the power Kari possessed.

Back at the base, the other Digi-heroes gathered around one another as they watched as Kari began to walk towards the computer terminal with several monitors.

"Kari..." Davis started to say with worry for his beloved, only for the Dark Queen to silence him, holding up a single finger, as though to say 'one second', before she reached the terminal as she began typing, before one of the monitors turned on, opening a connection to the DPF command center as everyone there looked at the new monitor screen.

"I'd say it's nice to see you all again, but I've been watching you all for the past two years." The Dark Queen said, shocking everyone as Rika questioned. "How are you alive and in our Kari?"

"I transferred a small portion of my being into her as my body was disintegrating. I've been inside of her for the past two years watching the world that could have been. And before you all ask, yes, your Kari is still here, I'm just the dominant personality at the moment." The Dark Queen said as she continued typing on the terminal.

Looking at Davis, The Dark Kari smiled as she added. "And I've enjoyed the time you both share together."

'You witch! Give me my body back!' Kari yelled in her mind to her counterpart, where the Dark Kari said out loud. "In a minute, I am still talking and have something to do here."

"We didn't say anything." Sora said in confusion, before the Dark Queen said. "No, my counterpart cut in."

Feeling his duty to his government kick in, Hashima began to speak as he said. "Now listen here, we will not allow..."

"Leviathan." The Dark Kari merely said as she interrupted Hashima, confusing everyone as she continued and said. "That's the name of the A.I. the based code you used for A.R.E.S. was from. On its Earth, it tried to control humanity by digitizing them and converting their mass into data that it could control, only to be defeated by a group of chosen and the digital lifeforms of that world working together. It was a year ago in this timeline that it was defeated, but in mine it was defeated two years before my Legion destroyed that world. It must have sent out a broken signal, hoping someone would catch it and rebuild it, just like you idiots did, and now it's rebuilding its army and servants."

As they listened to the Dark Kari talk, Matt noticed that she was still typing on the terminal, where the blonde looked at Izzy and asked. "Izzy, what is she doing?"

"It looks like she's trying a code to open a Digi-port, but to where I have no clue." The Digidestined of Knowledge said in reply, where the Digimon present looked ready to fight, thinking that she was either trying to escape or bring forth a dark army that would serve her.

"Stop, we won't let you..." Kazemon started to yell, but the Dark Queen kept typing as she interrupted and said. "I only have a few more seconds to do this. You need help against A.R.E.S. and my power is draining fast."

"I don't think so!" Beelzemon said as he took out his shotguns and pointed his weaponry at Kari, causing Davis to yell out. "Beelzemon, No!"

But before anyone do react, the Dark Queen hit one final key then stepped to the side as the largest monitor on the terminal began to glow, where a series of loud cries were heard.

When the light faded, the Digi-heroes saw six humans and six Digimon-like creatures in a dogpile, one that brought some sympathy from the Digidestined, remembering being in such a state each time they returned home from the Digital World in the past, before the group took in the new arrivals.

Looking almost the group, seeing only one woman amongst the team, Davis and the others saw that amongst the pile was a boy that many guessed was the leader of their group due to the goggles he wore around his head, which were framed around his short green hair.

While the boy wore a red track jacket with yellow hemlines and a yellow horizontal on each sleeve, a pair of blue jeans that were rolled up at the ends were set around his legs, while what many guessed was his partner, which looked like a small white furred cat-like creature that had silver clawed hands and feet, a set of yellow eyes with a tiny horn nose and a red helmet with two protruding spikes coming out from the sides, while a magnifying glass rested on the left side of the Digimon-like being's helmet.

Having landed on top of the pair was what appeared to be the only girl that the group had seen fall amongst the pile, who had pink hair that was tied at the sides of her head and in pigtails that flowed down to her waist.

She wore a white t-shirt, showing off her arms and her stomach, a pair of blue shorts and long white socks, with her feet covered by a pair of blue sneakers.

Landing on top of her, but acting quickly, lifting the pink haired girl up and over its head, causing those watching to sweatdrop, was what the Digi-heroes guessed was her partner, with some looking at the new digital lifeform and at Veemon, noticing similarities between the pair.

While the new creature had a similar blue skin, small frame and a white belly, similar to the cat-like being by his side, he too had metal hands and feet, though they weren't as sharp compared to his companion's, with his hands resembling large fists instead.

Next to them on the group was and in the tangled mess that was the dogpile was a younger boy that had two markings on his cheeks, closely resembling cat whiskers, blond hair which was covered by a dark black hat with a metal plating on the front of his cap, while a pair of red headphones rested around his neck.

The boy was dressed in a black t-shirt, with a brown vest over it, finishing with a pair of flashy yellow shorts, leaving some wondering about his sense of style.

And by his side was a rabbit-like digital lifeform, which had yellow fur covering its body, spiky protrusions of fur coming out from the top and around its head, looking like hair, while in place of ears were a set of secondary arms, each sporting a red ring around the wrists, patterned in string lines and with black speakers on the back of the palms.

Unlike his friends, not only did this creature lack metallic sections in place of hands or feet, but he wore clothing, consisting of an open orange jacket, a white under shirt, a pair of blue shorts and a pair of white sneakers.

The next human the Digi-heroes noticed looked around the same age as the green haired boy, only he had red spiky hair and green eyes and seemed to be the tallest of the group, where he was wearing a green shirt that had a long yellow pattern on the chest.

He wore greenish grey shorts and white and green sneakers, with some looking at him thinking he looked more the leading type.

But turning their attention to his partner, many of the girls couldn't help but sigh and squeal at the cuteness they were observing, looking at a small canine based creature that was wearing a dark coat that seemed to be a size or two too big for it, hiding its arms and draping down its body.

Upon its head was a light grey cap, with a pair of goggles resting around the top, where the girls continued to stare happily at this new Digimon-like being, finding its light blue eyes, its button nose and the obvious shyness as it chewed on its jacket sleeve adorable, a polar opposite to the next human they saw.

Looking at the boy, he was dressed in nothing but black, which included a black hooded jacket and black pants, leaving little detail for the Digi-heroes to go on.

And it was almost the same for his partner, who too wore a dark purple hood over its head, only running along the top were a set of black buttons, looking like a second pair of eyes, as if trying to conceal its own identity with a false perception, namely from the fangs that hung from the top and the bottom of its hood, while a pointed set of black ears popped out of the top.

Lastly upon the group was the youngest of the humans, a boy that had short brown hair, was wearing a yellow sweater with long sleeved white shirt underneath and a pair of dark blue shorts, where the group noticed the boy gripping tightly to a laptop, seemingly trying to keep it protected from any damage, while by his side was a small feline-esque creature that had yellow fur, a silver helmet similar to the first creatures, only his had two plugs in place of spikes.

And noticing they were not alone, quickly rising, the small Digimon-like creature drew out its blaster-like arms, seemingly highly protective of its friends.

"What happened?" The girl asked as she got off her partner's hands, where she then added. "We were watching Astora's latest video on Ai's tablet then wound up here."

The blond kid then noticed the other humans in the room, as well as the Digimon, gaining a confused look as he commented. "Those are some weird looking Appmon."

"True." His partner confessed, examining the things he believed were Appmon, before grinning at his friend and saying. "But they still seem pretty cool."

"No arguments here." The blond boy said in reply, before drawing out his cellphone from his jacket, sliding it a fair distance from him, before taking a photo, giving a big grin alongside the enthusiastic being as they posed for their picture.

The word Appmon confused the Digi-heroes, before the green haired boy's eyes widened as he got up and said. "They're Digimon."

"Like from that old game you played?" The boy's partner asked, bringing down his magnifying glass and glaring at those around them, trying to gather whatever info he could on them, but found his search results coming up empty.

Kazu, meanwhile, as well as some of the Tamers at the DPF stifled laughs as they looked at the Digidestined, seeing some of their eyes twitching, remembering when they all first met during the Quartzmon incident and how the Tamers went on about their adventures being tv shows and games, startling them and making the meeting awkward.

"Will the rest of you get off of me?!" The kid in black yelled, having been at the bottom of the dogpile.

The girl then, however, turned her eyes to Davis, where she gained a bright blush and had stars in her eyes, causing Davis to gulp lightly as the girl seemed to be interested in him, much to the younger blond's annoyance.

"So not Groovy." He muttered in annoyance, while next to them, the Dark Queen rolled her eyes.

"Ok, keeping this short, these are the ones that fought and defeated Leviathan before, their partners are called Appmon, and the redhead's an android..." The Dark Kari said, surprising the six newcomers and their partners at the info she seemed to have on them, while the Digi-heroes looked at the redhead with confusion, before she looked at the others and said. "And you've been brought here because Leviathan has been remain in our world as an A.I. called A.R.E.S."

"What!?" The green haired boy's partner yelled in confusion and fear that their old enemy was back and obviously sought to carry out its terrible plans once again.

Looking back at the Digi-heroes, the Dark Queen then said. "And that's all the time I have, I'll be seeing you."

Kari then let out a gasp as her eyes widened, the red hue vanishing from her eyes and the dark armour disappearing into a dark wisp, leaving Kari in her normal clothing as she began to lose her balance, only to be caught before she hit the ground by her lover, who looked at her with concern as Davis asked. "Kari, are you alright?"

"Yeah, she let go..." Kari said as she felt out of breath, wondering if her counterpart was gone this time.

'Don't count on it.' She heard the Dark Queen say in her mind, causing Kari to growl lightly, looking at Davis with worry.

"Easy, Kari. Just try and take it easy." Davis said, keeping his arms around Kari as he lifted her up, carried her bridal style, much to the pink haired girl's annoyance.

And before anyone could say anymore, the red lights began flashing again, while on one of the monitors that wasn't being used turned on, showing the same sword icon they all saw on the being working for A.R.E.S.

"**Haru Shinkai... Gatchmon...!**" The voice the Digi-heroes heard earlier yelled, while the newcomers all glared at the screen, the being now known as Gatchmon growling as he recognized the voice and yelled. "Leviathan!"

"**No longer... I am reborn... remade... I am A.R.E.S... And if I cannot remake humanity into perfection... I will wipe it from existence and replace it all...!**" A.R.E.S. declared, before the icon on the screen was replaced with a timer, showing less than a minute as it counted down, causing everyone's eyes to widen in realization.

"Izzy, quick!" Davis yelled to the Digidestined of knowledge, who seemed to know what Davis had in mind as he quickly ran towards the terminal and began typing as everyone gathered around him.

"Hold onto us!" Matt yelled to the newcomers, who held on as the Digi-heroes pointed their respective Digivices at the screen, before everyone was sucked through the newly opened Digi-port, causing Miki and her PawnChessmon to move out of the way as the group came out through her terminal, landing safely in the DPF command room, before the screen they were all watching the base on turned to static.

Everyone then braced themselves as they felt the floor shake a little, where they looked at the monitors, now seeing a massive crater where A.R.E.S. base once was.

"That had the same force as a tactical nuke!" Yamaki said with a great shock as he looked at Hashima, who sighed, causing the others to realize that the agencies allowed A.R.E.S. to make large explosive in its arsenal.

"Can some please tell me what's going on here!" The pink haired girl then yelled in obvious confusion and bother, causing the Digi-heroes and DPF official to look at one another, before Tai looked at them and said. "This is going to take a while."

-Two hours later-

As the other Digi-heroes were explaining their worlds, Digimon, and the events that led up to this current situation, Kari sat on a chair to the side as Davis, Gatomon, Veemon, Tai, Agumon and Gomamon stood around her, while Joe was giving her an examination to see if she was ok.

"How is she?" Thomas asked as he and Gaomon approached the group, seeing the concern on many of their faces.

"I'm fine, really." Kari said, trying to assure her friends, though in truth she was scared knowing her dark counterpart was alive and dwelling deep inside of her.

"How much do you remember?" Davis asked in concern and worry.

"All of it." Kari said with a sigh, before adding as she thought on it. "It's like being the side seat passenger of a car. You can see, hear and feel everything, even yell at the driver, but you have no real control over where the car is moving."

Kari then saw out of the corner of her eyes what looked like a see-through version of the Dark Queen walking around, but based on how everyone was no reacting to her, the brunette realized that it was her in her mind she was seeing.

"You can see her, can't you?" Davis asked, getting a nod from Kari as she watched the apparition-like version of the Dark Kari look at her, smirk, then vanish from sight.

"We'll have to keep an eye on this. She might have helped us now, but I doubt her intentions are purely to just help us." Sampson said as he approached the group, getting nods from them as Davis helped Kari up and the group walked over to the gathering as the newcomers started introducing themselves, starting off with the green haired boy, who bowed his head and said with respect. "Well... I am Haru Shinkai."

"And I am Gatchmon, the best search Appmon around." Gatchmon followed up with pride in his title, bringing down his magnifying glass and declaring. "Anything you need to know, just ask me and you will get your answer."

Taking off her shoes as she followed up, wanting the spotlight on her, the pink haired girl crossed her arms as she stood on a chair, confusing all but Haru and his friends as to what the girl was doing.

"'I'm Eri Karan. And I'll punch my way into your heart! I am the centre of my universe, so you better not rub me the wrong way!" The girl now known as Eri declared, where the Digi-heroes all sweatdropped at the girls actions, while a few thought. 'At least she's polite enough to take her shoes off.'

"But since we're new here, we could use a guide." Eri then said, getting off of the seat, putting her shoes back on and quickly approached Davis, looking at him with a continued cute smile as she asked. "Do you think you could be my guide?"

Davis let out a nervous chuckle as Kari glared at Eri, while most of the group seemed to chuckle at the sight, baring the blond kid and Rika, who growled lightly as her other voice thought respectively. 'Back off kid, we have first dibs!'

'Not now!' Rika growled in her head as she focused on the scene as Eri moved away from Davis and introduced her partner.

"And this is Dokamon." Eri said, gesturing to the blue Appmon, who gave off a friendly vibe to begin with, before saying with a seriousness and defensive tone. "That's right. And if any of you mess with Eri, you'll have to deal with me."

The blond kid then seemed to get over his bout of jealousy as he gained a joyous look on his face and said. "I am Torajiro, but I'm better known as the famous Apptuber, Astora."

'A what now?' Some of the Digi-heroes thought, before letting it slide as Astora's partner began to speak.

"And I'm his buddy, Musimon." Musimon said, giving a confident grin as he declared. "Together we create the best videos you'll ever see."

Turning to face Astora, Musimon asked with a continued grin. "So what do you think of this place so far?"

"Groovy?" Astora asked in reply, posing his hands up, actions Musimon copied.

"Not Groovy?" Musimon asked back, before both brought their ring fingers up alongside their index fingers, crossed their arms and announced. "So Groovy!"

Again, the Digi-heroes sweatdropped at Astora and Musimon's personalities and their actions, but most found the duo's enthusiasm heartwarming and entertaining, leaving some curious as to what kinds of trouble the duo could get into.

Continuing in their introductions, while the shy Appmon rested on his partner's head, repeating the word 'Knead' over and over as he formed a small ball of energy, his way to combat stress and his social anxiety, Yujin made introductions.

"I am Yujin Ozora, and yes, I am an artificial intelligence." The red haired boy confessed, backing up his words as he pulled up his left sleeve, before the Digi-heroes watched, some like Izzy in awe, others in some shock to see the skin of Yujin's arm slide open, revealing the mechanics within, alongside with his App Driver.

"I was originally created by Leviathan to watch over Haru, to observe him and ensure he and his friends gained the power they needed to give Leviathan the power needed to obtain a physical being, a form that would allow it to break free from the Deep Dark Web and bring order to our world in his own way." Yujin told the others, a regretful expression appearing on his face as he added. "I was ashamed that I manipulated Haru, that his entire childhood was built around a lie, but after seeing Haru continuing to fight and not giving it, it allowed me to make my own choices, so I turned against Leviathan, knowing that it would cost me my existence."

"Then how are you here?" Yolei had to ask, the question causing Yujin to smile and say in reply. "I have Haru's grandfather to thank for that."

Noticing the confusion upon the group, the red haired boy then explained. "After Leviathan met its end and was supposedly erased, all my data, my thoughts and all my memories were saved by Haru's grandfather, who had hidden himself in the Net, as to avoid Leviathan finding him. After he came back to the Real World, he gave the company that took over L-Corp the data needed to give me a second chance."

After Yujin was finished telling the others about himself, a smile appeared on his face, glad to see many of the Digi-heroes had accepted him, seeing him as a person and not a machine.

But noticing some of the girls seemingly staring at him, he couldn't help but give a small chuckle, knowing that the girls were all fawning over his partner.

"And this is Offmon, but unlike most Appmon, Offmon is based on shutting down apps, and he doesn't do too well with social situations." Yujin said, gently reaching up and pulling Offmon off of his head, causing Offmon to give off a frightened cry and bury his head into Yujin's chest at all the people staring at him.

"It's ok. We won't hurt you." Zoe assured in a gentle voice, gently rubbing the back of Offmon's head, causing him to slowly look at Zoe, then up at Yujin, who gave his partner a trusting smile, comforting the Appmon a little.

The group then turned to the boy in black as the youngest of the group sat in a chair behind him, with Megumi watching as the brunette plugged his laptop into her terminal and began type, while their Appmon stood by.

"I am Rei." The boy said simply, not taking his eyes off of the youngest of the newcomers, gesturing to him and adding. "And this is my little brother, Hajime."

"It's nice to meet you all." Hajime said with a smile, looking up from his laptop for a second to wave to the Digi-heroes, before returning to his work, with some wondering what the young boy was doing.

Curious himself, Impmon approached the cloaked Appmon and asked. "And who exactly are you? What's with the hood, going trick or treating?"

"I'm Hackmon." Hackmon replied nonchalantly, only to draw up his right claw, where the tips opened and dozens of wires and sharp implications emerged, Hackmon's tone turning as he told Impmon. "And if you get on my nerves, you'll wish you never knew me."

Impmon took the hint and backed away slowly, before the last of the Appmon in the room let out a laugh.

"Don't worry about Hackmon. He can seem mean, but under that hood is a kind Appmon who'd do anything to see Rei and Hajime smile." He said as he reassured Impmon's nerves, rubbing his back, before looking upon the humans and their partners and announcing with an enthusiastic voice. "And I am Onmon. I have the power to activate apps and most forms of technology."

Rei meanwhile, looked down to see Hajime giving him a look that said, 'Be nice', causing the older boy to sigh as he turned to the Digi-heroes and said. "Sorry. hearing that Leviathan still exists struck a nerve with me."

"Before I met Hackmon, I lived with Hajime after our parents passed away, he was the only one l had left in the world, and I would do anything to make sure I didn't lose him, I even hacked the state files so the adoption services would never separate us and rose Hajime, looking after him." Rei told the others.

"And you did a great job, brother." Hajime cut in with a thankful smile, one that caused Rei to smile back at his brother, before sighing, hating the next part of the story, but he knew it had to be told.

"Things were going well for us, until I came across a puzzle over the internet, which lead me to a department store. I wanted to go alone, but Hajime insisted on coming..." Rei continued, only for Hajime to stop typing as he turned to face the group.

"I wanted to go, not only to be with my big brother, but because I had solved the puzzle two weeks before him, I just wanted it to be a surprise." The young boy said, facing his brother, bowing his head and apologizing. "Sorry for cutting in like that."

Another smile appeared on Rei's face, rubbing his brother's head softly, where he assured. "It's ok, Hajime."

"As Hajime said, it turns out he was the real genius and believed that showing that he had solved the puzzle would impress me. However, after Hajime got ahead of me, the revolving doors shut on him, leaving me outside and where I then saw the one that would become my enemy, Leviathan."Rei continued, clenching his fist as he thought of the memory.

As Rei remembered the shock he felt at seeing Hajime walk in and not to return, as well as recalling the image of how Hajime was absorbed by a red light and taken away from him, Hajime spoke up as he continued for his brother. "The entire thing was a trap set by Leviathan to lure me to it. It imprisoned me and had me help in getting its plans for humanity underway, creating Onmon's Ultimate form, Bootmon, in the process. But when I helped him escape with a security function I had secretly installed, Leviathan had one of its servants, Biomon, turned me into an Appmon, putting me in a deep sleep until Rei and the others found me."

"And if it wasn't for Rei's hard work and his over cooked food, then Hajime would still maintain his Sleepmon form." Hackmon commented casually.

Hearing the tale, most of the Digi-heroes felt sympathy for the brothers, especially Nene and Yuu, remembering what AxeKnightmon put them through.

"I already lost Hajime once to this AI, and I don't plan for it to happen again." Rei declared, once again grasping his hand into a fist, refusing to see Hajime suffer.

"So wait... you guys, Appmon, are based on smartphone apps?" Tommy asked in confusion as the Warrior of Ice looked around at the Appmon, who nodded in reply.

"That's right. Unlike Digimon, we Appmon were created by humans, where we take to living in the Net Ocean so we could carry out our specific app functions." Gatchmon said, before adding. "As I mentioned before, I am a search Appmon, so whenever a human would use my app to gather information, they would directly contact me, less to their knowledge."

"Likewise, similar to Digimon, we have our own 'Evolution' system, but for us, we need to Applink with specific partners to reach our next level of evolution." Gatchmon then said, gesturing to himself as he then said. "This is my Standard form, think of it as Agumon's Rookie form."

As those having prepared for this, Hajime hit a key on his laptop, before an image of another Appmon, one the size of those they faced in ARES' base appeared on the main screen, surprising Izzy and Thomas at how easy it was for Hajime to navigate their computer systems, before Gatchmon then added. "And this is my Super form, DotGatchmon."

"Unfortunately, I used to only be able to use it by Applinking with a blowhard named Navimon." The search Appmon grumbled, causing a light to emit from Haru's pants pocket, causing him to draw out his App Drive and for whom the others guessed was this Navimon to call with a bitterness. "Heard that I did. And DoGatchmon is my Super form, you are just the added data I need."

From Navimon's words, Gatchmon grabbed at Haru's App Drive, shaking it as he yelled. "I am DoGatchmon, you airhead!"

"Wrong. DoGatchmon is my form." Navimon's voice snapped back through the App Drive, which shook around in Gatchmon's claws, before it slammed against Gatchmon's head, where Gatchmon and Navimon's Appmon Chip glared at the other, a heated rivalry growing between the duo.

Everyone sweatdropped at hearing and watching the pair arguing, before Eri yelled. "Shut up, both of you and get on with what you were telling them or I'll Big Bang Punch the both of you!"

Both Appmon gulped nervously, before Navimon returned to the App Drive, while Haru took back his App Drive, allowing Gatchmon to continue in his explanation.

After that, another image appeared, showing an Appmon about the same size as WarGreymon, which was covered in red armour, with a pair of blue energy wings coming out of his back, where Gatchmon told the group. "This is my Ultimate form, Globemon. While it took the Applink between me and an Appmon named Timemon to do it, I couldn't have achieved my form if it wasn't for Haru and his selflessness."

"And while most Appmon only go this far, a small few, mostly those in this room, can reach a higher, more final stage, God Form, like mine here, Gaiamon!" Gatchmon finished with a smile as an image of his his final form appeared on the monitor, displaying Globemon's image with what looked like a dark counterpart to his being alongside Gaiamon's.

Upon seeing the image of Gaiamon, however, both Shoutmon and Dorulumon's eyes widened, where the Digimon King stood up and said. "So that was you!"

Gatchmon gained a confused look, along with the others as they looked at Shoutmon, before Dorulumon continued and explained. "During our final battle with the Legion two years ago, that same Appmon came to our aid with the Resistance, taking down one of the Nightmares on his own."

"That must have been his counterpart from the other timeline." Izzy mused, thinking back on some of the other beings they saw helping them fight the Legion, as well as those that were apart of it against them.

With Izzy's thoughts, leaving many of the Digi-heroes recalling the events against the Dark Queen, typing upon his laptop with a continued show of speed and skill, after managing to break through several layers of coding, Hajime smiled.

"Guys, I found a link back to our world." The brunette informed, continuing to surprise Izzy and Thomas that this kid was able to make such a connection between worlds so easily, before Hajime then hit enter, opening a comm link.

"HARU!" The voice of an old man yelled loudly, causing most of the others in the room to jump at the sudden outburst, with Eri looking at the those who jumped and said with a small sigh. "You get use to it."

The monitor then turned to a screen, where the Digi-heroes saw an old man with glasses looking at them, while behind them was a young girl, looking to be Haru's age, who had blonde hair, shining purple eyes and a worried expression on her face.

"Are you all alright? Ai found me as soon as she saw you all disappear, I've been looking for you!" The old man said in worry, causing Haru to step forward, allowing the pair to take in his appearance, where Haru assured. "We're fine, Grandpa."

"However, we might need to stay here for a while." Haru then said, his tone and expression turning serious, before the boy then explained everything he could to them, with old man gaining a look of anger to hear that Leviathan was remade, causing him to think of the sacrifices that were made to stop it the first time, and feeling that they had gone to waste.

"Alright, just keep in contact with us." The old man said, getting nods from the Appli Drivers.

"And if anybody can stop this ARES, I just know it's you." Ai added, where Haru smiled brightly, a look on his face most in the room noticed and knew as the green haired boy said in reply. "Thanks, Ai, we'll contact you again soon."

"Just be careful, Haru." Ai cut in, looking at Haru with a caring expression, resting her hands on her chest as she added. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

Nodding in reply and giving her a comforting smile, Haru then hit a button, causing the screen to turn off, thinking he had turned the connection off, where he then turned and gulped as he noticed a few of the girls starting at him with knowing smiles.

"She seems sweet. Is that your girlfriend?" Gatomon asked with a smile, causing Haru to blush as he stammered a little as he said. "No... I mean yes... She is a girl that is my friend, but not my girlfriend... But I do like her... I just can't seem to tell her..."

"Ai is a sweet, caring and kind hearted girl, somebody I cherish deeply. I've wanted to ask her out, but after knowing her for so many years, I think she thinks we can only be friends. Believe me, I want to ask her out, but I also don't want to ruin our friendship if she doesn't feel the same way." Haru then said with a smile as he thought of the girl he had a crush on for years as he then commented. "If Ai did agree to go out with me, I would do anything for her, just to see her smile. Even if it was just one date, it'd be perfect because I would be with her."

"Um... Haru..." Hajime said nervously, getting the older boy's attention as he then added with a light chuckle. "You, um... You only turned the monitor off... the link is still open..."

Haru remained in place, blinking a few times before his mind processed what he just heard, causing him to let out a panicked cry, with some around him stifling laughs, while the girls found it kind of cute.

On his end, Haru's grandfather stifled his own laugh, grinning lightly as he looked over his shoulder, seeing Ai standing there with a bright blush on her face, before he closed the link on his end.

"Haru loves me...?" Ai let out, continuing to blush as she too took a moment to register what she had heard, her thoughts, but namely her feelings.

Back with the heroes, Davis' face then quickly turned from humoured to nervous himself as Eri then walked up and wrapped her arms around his left, looking up at the older boy with starry eyes.

"So are you seeing anybody, cutie?" She asked interestingly, continuing to move on in on Davis' space, causing Astora to glare once again at Davis, while Kari and Gatomon glared at the young girl.

"As a matter a fact he is dating my partner." Gatomon cut in, glaring at Eri and saying. "So you better back away from him before I get angry."

"And you better watch yourself, kitty cat, before I big bang punch all nine lives out of you." Eri said back, showing she was not afraid to get a little roughed up, leaving Eri and Gatomon glaring at the other, while Dokamon looked at his partner with worry.

Everyone let out sighs at the scene, while Sampson thought with a sweatdrop. 'Things are going to be interesting.'

-Later-

After getting Eri off of Davis, seeing how late it was and the Digi-heroes having no more leads at the moment on A.R.E.S., the DATS commander sent everyone home for the evening, with the promise to contact them as soon as they managed to gather any sightings or information on A.R.E.S' next move.

As for the Appli Drivers, being away from their home, some of the Digi-heroes offered to allow them to spend the night at their places, with Nene quickly grabbing Eri before she could try and go with Davis and Kari, using the fact that she too was an idol to get the young girl's interest.

"Thanks for letting us stay over. We really appreciate it." Haru said politely as he and Gatchmon sat at the dining table in Davis and Kari's place, with the maroon haired boy cooking dinner for everyone.

"No problem. We don't have much so the couch is yours'." Davis called in reply as he continued cooking, while Kari, Veemon and Gatomon sat at the table with the green haired boy and his partner.

"That will be fine, thank you." Haru said in reply with a continued respect, causing Gatchmon to grin and nod, comfortable to sleep anywhere.

Though Davis was in the midst of preparing dinner for his girlfriend, their partners and their welcomed guests, looking at Veemon, Gatchmon asked. "Do you think we can have some Gatch Monka as a snack before we get to dinner?"

"Have what now?" Veemon asked in confusion, sweat dropping as the search Appmon gain a look of panic, disbelief and dread.

"Don't... don't tell me they don't exist in this world?!" Gatchmon all but cried out hysterically, a panic stricken expression gracing Gatchmon's face, where Haru put a comforting hand on his partner and said. "Don't worry, Gatchmon. I'm sure the food here is just as good."

A few moments later, Davis placed the fresh cooked food on the table, with Gatchmon being the first to dig in, only for his eyes to widen in disbelief at how good it tasted.

"This is so good! Not even Perorimon could find a flaw for his reviews!" Gatchmon said with animated tears in his eyes as he took a riceball in both hands and chowed down on it, causing the others to laugh lightly, even though most didn't know who or what Gatchmon was exactly talking about.

-Later on-

After having dinner and chatting for a bit, the group decided to turn in for the night, with Davis and Kari lying on their bed, the brunette pressing herself close to her love as he kept his arm wrapped around her.

"I like Haru, he's a good kid." Kari said with a smile as she thought about the boy and his friends, before she then added with a small glare. "But that girl needs to control herself."

"It's just a crush." Davis assured, before he then added. "Plus, I think Astora has a thing for her, he just needs to tell her."

Nodding in agreement with Davis, Kari smiled as she looked at her beloved, before giggling as she spoke her mind. "He actually reminds me of you when you got jealous whenever I was just with TK."

Looking down at Kari, Davis noticed the small worry on her face as he asked warmly. "Are you ok?"

"Honestly, I'm scared. Not only is she alive, but inside of me, and able to take over whenever she seemingly wants to. I'm.. I'm afraid of what she can do, what she really wants. I don't want to hurt our friends... hurt you." Kari said as she felt herself tear up lightly.

"Well whatever she plans to do, I will do whatever I can to make sure she doesn't harm you, you have my word as a Digidestined and as your boyfriend." Davis said as he held Kari close to his body, where Kari smiled at his words, moving up to give Davis a loving kiss, before she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep on her beloved's chest, hoping that whatever was to come, they could get through it.

-Meanwhile-

In the northernmost reaches of the Digital World, a large, black pyramid-like structure emerged from beneath the ice floor, with red energy coursing through it like streams of data.

"**Data reconstruction commencing... reviving Ultimate 4... reviving Deusmon... beginning construction of new servants...**" A.R.E.S. said as several pods inside of it glowed with red energy, where the silhouettes of its four former generals appeared within it, while nearby, three Appmon chips were being made from scratch.

Meanwhile, a red mist began to form around the pyramid as small creatures, resembling purple squids with horned helmets and gas masks for faces began to swarm around, with robotic drones of all shapes and sizes began marching out, creating a defensive perimeter as to defend their newly claimed region.

Likewise, while this was happening, north of Shinjuku, deep in the mountains, as the archeology team that was examining the mysterious ruins slept, the symbols spread across the structure that resembled the Crests of Light and Miracles began to all glow brightly.


	5. Chapter 5

Sitting on Nerfertimon's back, Kari felt dead to the world.

Her eyes barely held life in them, she hadn't really eaten in days, and she didn't really interact with others anymore, not with the light of her life gone.

It had been only a few days since she got the news that the plane Davis was on had crashed with no survivors, a few days since Kari felt her hopes and dreams die as well.

And as bad as it seemed for Kari, it continued to just get worse for her when all of her friends and her brother seemed to resume their lives, as if Davis never existed, filling Kari with small amount of resentment toward the others, remembering when they arrived at the DPF and she heard them all laughing wholeheartedly.

'Davis is gone and they act like it's just a normal day.' Kari thought bitterly, feeling Davis was not only a hero, but also a great friend and didn't deserve to be brushed away from their lives so easily.

'All Davis ever tried to do was the right thing, and this is how they repay his respects?' Kari then thought, her right hand twitching lightly, as though she wanted to form a fist and express the rage building within her heart.

"Kari, are you ok?" A voice below her then asked, causing Kari to look down for a moment to see DemiVeemon looking up at her, the In-Training Digimon looking at her with a worried expression, while in his eyes, Kari could see that he was in as much pain as she was, losing his partner and his closest friend.

"I... I just miss Davis so much..." Kari said in reply, her hand resting on her chest as she told DemiVeemon. "It actually hurts to know we'll never see him again..."

"I feel the same way." DemiVeemon admitted, he too still in mourning at Davis' end, before he tried to cheer Kari up. "But even though Davis is gone, I promise to look after you. I know that's what he'd want."

"There it is." Nefertimon suddenly called out, causing Kari to look forward to see the mysterious object that the DPF called the Digi-heroes to look at.

It was a massive black metal sphere, twice the size of Quartzmon's main body, with red energy running around it like veins as it floated in the air, giving off a negative vice to those who came into contact with the unknown object.

"Let's get in closer and see if we can shut that thing off." DemiVeemon said, speaking for Kari as the girl returned to her thoughts, not caring for the massive amount of darkness she sensed from the object, nor the battles that seemed to rage around it as the other Digi-heroes fought the Seven Demon Lords, who were interested in the dark energy of the sphere, desiring its obviously deadly power.

However, as she got closer, Nefertimon buckled as she felt an invisible force grab her, causing her, Kari and DemiVeemon to cry out as they were quickly pulled towards the sphere, where an opening mysteriously opened, causing the three to be pulled inside as it closed behind them.

When she came to, Kari found herself lying on a platform in a massive room, with hallways and stairways leading to unknown locations within the object, before she noticed that Nefertimon had reverted back to Gatomon as she and DemiVeemon rushed to check on her.

"Kari, are you alright?" Gatomon asked as she helped her partner up, where Kari rubbed her head, feeling a small migraine, but ignored it, having more questions on her mind.

_Welcome, we've been waiting..._

The whispered voice echoed throughout the chamber, causing the two Digimon to look around and take more defensive stances around Kari defensively, while the Digidestined of Light stood up, looking around as well.

_Do not fear... come... we have been expecting you..._

Looking at one another, Kari took the lead as the three started traversing the barely lit hallways of the sphere, before what appeared to be an illusion emerged around them, seeing some of the old war against the Bagra Army years ago.

_So much war... so much pain... in the Light, there is only loss..._

The illusion then vanished, with Kari left confused, before realizing what this thing was trying to do, drive her from the light.

'No, I... I need to get out of here... Davis would want me to fight...' Kari thought with a sudden fear as she and the Digimon continued to find the exit, moving from one illusion to another, with the Digidestined of Light trying to ignore the whispers and their obvious lies.

However, upon entering another chamber, Kari was shown another vision.

This time, she saw Davis sitting in his seat on the plane, looking rather beat from his confrontation with Tai the day before, with a pen in his hand as he seemed to be trying to write out a letter, one address to her.

However, he was then jolted as the plane rocked violently, before an alarming sound rang as the plane seemed to break apart, the illusion ending as Kari's vision returned to the room.

_The Light abandoned Davis... It left him for dead...and kept him from being saved..._

This time, Kari stopped arguing, stopped trying to listen to what she believed in, where she began to walk further into the sphere, despite Gatomon and DemiVeemon calling out for her as they followed, worried about what was to become of the brunette.

One by one after that, the illusions focused on Davis, showing Kari his last time speaking to her brother, with the older brunette punching him as he told Davis to leave her alone, before turning some of those she knew at school, laughing at Davis, laughing that he was gone, her friends making fun of him, calling him a loser, and finally to the scene she saw earlier of them all laughing like his' absence meant nothing.

_They all laughed at him... took him for granted... discarded him... _

The hate and anger Kari kept inside of her started to boil, filling her as she walked through the hallways, before coming to a large flight of stairs, walking up it, where she saw what looked like a throne at the top, waiting for her to sit in.

_Take our power... unleash your rage... they took him from you... they kept him from you...__**MAKE THEM SUFFER...!**_

Kari once sad face morphed into a dark and sinister smile as she reached her hand out towards the throne, ignoring DemiVeemon and Gatomon's protests and pleas, before the room was filled with an intense darkness.

She would make them pay... she would make them suffer... she would make them burn!

It was at that moment that Kari quickly sat up as she let out a scream, where the light turned on and Davis quickly wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her as he asked. "Kari, Kari calm down, what happened?"

Holding Davis close, Kari took a few breaths before she realized what had happened.

Davis hadn't died, they were together.

What she saw must've been her counterpart's memories, and it unnerved her to no end.

She felt everything the other Kari felt, and felt sick that indeed a part of her would desire to cause so much pain and suffering to others.

Davis held Kari close, looking up as the door burst open as Veemon, Gatomon, Haru and Gatchmon quickly came in to see what had happened, having all been woken up by Kari's scream, where the maroon haired boy held his hand up and signalled for them to give them a moment, a request the four complied with as they closed the door.

Letting Kari catch her breath, Davis put his hand on her chin and lifted her face up, seeing the distress in her eyes as he asked with worry and care. "It's ok, Kari, I'm here. Now please tell me what happened?"

-Later-

As the last of the Digi-heroes arrived, some were annoyed at Davis for having woken them up and calling them so early in the morning, but upon seeing Kari and the state she was in, all shut up, allowing the brunette to recount what she had witnessed.

While the Appli Drivers didn't know what to make of what they heard, the Digi-heroes were all a mix of guilt and regrets, knowing now easily all that could have come to pass, how the minor misunderstandings they learned from their counterparts in the other timeline could have been used against them.

Moving closer to the couch as he saw Kari still pressed against Davis, a look of distress on her face as she held his arm, Tai tried to comfort his sister as he reached out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder and started to say. "Kari's it alright, there..."

However, as his fingers touched her skin, Kari tensed, still feeling some of the resentment her counterpart felt for her brother, a sight that caused Tai to feel his own heart sink.

"Kari, it's ok." Davis assured, causing the brunette to snap out of what she was feeling as she looked at Tai and said apologetically. "I'm sorry, Tai. I didn't mean it."

"It's... It's alright." Tai said, understanding Kari's pain, before looking at Davis with a look that said 'We need to talk'.

Nodding, Davis gently got up, letting Nene and Rika sit to help comfort their friend as the two boys went off and exited to the balcony, where Davis saw the frustrated and distressed look on Tai's face as he asked. "Are you alright?"

"No... no I'm not. I remember what the other me went through... the pain, the suffering, the fact that he couldn't save his sister, I... I don't want to go through that... I can't go through that!" Tai said back as he slammed his fist against the railing in anger, holding back tears as he feared he might lose his sister as his counterpart did.

"You won't, whatever the Dark Queen is up to, we won't let her win. I don't know if she showed Kari those memories on purpose or accidentally, but together we will work through this. Remember that even though she is afraid right now, Kari will always love you. You are a very good brother to her." Davis said reassuringly as he placed a hand on Tai's shoulder, causing the older boy to sigh, wishing he could do more than just sit around, but this was not a sickness he could just get the medicine for, or act as the big brother and chase away bullies or monster.

"Right now she needs you, let her know you still care about her." Davis then said, where Tai nodded and walked back into the apartment.

Davis was about to join him, before stopping as Astora came out and looked at him with a serious look as the blond asked. "I know this isn't the right time and all, but I need to know, you're not interested in Eri, are you?"

"No. I love Kari, she is everything to me." Davis said with a smile, about to say more, before Astora interrupted and said. "Fine, but if you're going to let Eri down, please do it gently. I don't want a negative vibe to be comin' off of her."

"Eri is a great girl who deserves somebody as devoted to her as all her fans, but someone who can always be there for her. Somebody just as smart, brave, selfless and caring as she can be. Just someone who can make her smile, something she manages to do everyday for everyone she comes into contact with. I know that when Eri finds a boyfriend, she'll be happy, I just want to make sure she gets someone who won't wind up breaking her heart." Astora said as he continued to look at Davis, before noticing the maroon haired boy's eyes looking behind Astora, causing him to look behind him, where he saw Eri at the doorway, a bright blush on her face as she had overheard their conversation.

Astora then turned back to say more to Davis, before his brain caught up to him as he let out a fearful gasp and froze up, unsure what to do or how to react to the situation he was now set in.

"I'll leave you two be." Davis said as he walked past Astora and Eri, where the blond haired boy slowly turned to Eri, sweating nervously as he had no idea on what to say or do.

But catching a break of sorts, Eri broke the nerving silence as she spoke up.

"Torajiro, all those things you said, about me and about anybody dating me, were you serious?" Eri asked, taking the moment seriously as she awaited Astora's reply.

"I... Well yeah... I mean..." Astora tried to say, trying to think of the right words, before he felt something warm against his cheek, causing his eyes to widen and a blush to appear on his face, seeing Eri pull back from apparently giving his cheek a kiss, an equally bright blush on her face as well.

"All those things you said, somebody to make her happy, I think you were just talking about yourself and didn't even realize it." Eri said as she looked at Astora with an ever growing smile, continuing to leave Astora blushing, before his eyes widened and his cheeks turned red when Eri moved over and kissed him right on the lips, the feeling leaving the blond astounded as to how good it felt.

'Grooviest thing ever...' He could only think, this being his first kiss, and he liked it.

Back inside, The other App Drivers watched the scene in shock, especially Musimon and Dokamon, where Gatchmon looked at Davis and asked. "Did you have something to do with that?"

"No, Astora seems to be a natural." Davis replied nonchalantly as he began cooking breakfast for everyone.

Sitting on the couch still drinking some hot coco Nene got for her, Kari could not help but smile at her beloved, happy to see him putting others before himself and with a smile as he did so.

'At least he got that little tramp off of him.' Kari then heard her counterpart say in her mind, causing her to frown.

'Shut up, and that wasn't nice, showing me that memory.' Kari replied back in anger, which grew as she sensed her counterpart smirking.

'But now you understand. Now you know the pain I felt... I feel. They all claimed to be his friends now, but that's only after I... we put the fear of God in them and made them see what could happen if they returned to their old ways. We made them..." The Dark Queen started to say with a dark malice.

'Enough!' Kari thought in mentally cut in, which seemed to silence the Dark Queen, but Kari could sense her still smirking within.

After preparing several cartons of eggs, several towers of pancakes, and other breakfast he prepared in his own way, Davis placed the food on the table, with most looking at the meal with hungry eyes, looking forward to another fantastic meal cooked by the maroon haired boy.

However, before anyone could approach the table to chow down, a light quickly came out of Eri's App Drive, where appearing in one of the seats was an Appmon that looked like a large, simple-looking creature with a large mouth stomach, it had knife and fork tattoos on its left and right hands respectively, while on its head was a small western styled hat.

"Perorimon?" Eri asked in confusion, while Davis, Kari, Gatomon and Veemon finally understood who Gatchmon was talking about the night before, where the Appmon took a fork, quickly taking some of the eggs and pancakes as he ate them, taking in the unique spices and flavours Davis put in them.

"Fine meal of quantity and obvious effort. The chef clearly allowed the temperature of the room to match the food so it can be enjoyed to its fullest. Though he clearly strained from the traditional path of this dish, he has made up for it with his own unique blend, one to which I cannot find to flaw." The Appmon said, confusing everyone except the App Drivers, before Dokamon spoke up and said. "He's a Gourmet Appmon and has his own Review app."

"Oh, he's a food critic!" Veemon said in realization, where Davis blushed and said modestly. "Well thanks, I just like cooking is all."

Everyone smiled at Davis' modesty, with Kari looking over at the other girls who, despite being ok with their relationships and Kari with her's, still seemed to have small crushes on her man.

'That reminds me, if you're still going through with your plans for Rika, you should know that she has a kink for...' The Dark Queen started to say with a smirk, before Kari cut in and mentally yelled. 'Not now!'

It was after everyone else ate that Izzy's laptop began to beep, causing him to open it, where Miki's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey Izzy... wow, didn't expect to find you all in one place." The raven haired woman let out in surprise before smiling at Joe, causing him to blush a little while Gomamon snickered.

"It's a long story." The Digidestined of Knowledge informed in reply, before having to ask. "Have you guys found anything on A.R.E.S.?" The Digidestined of Knowledge asked.

Shaking her head, Miki replied. "No, nothing yet, but those ruins you've been looking at all week, they're now in the Digital World, right outside Axis City."

This news surprised everyone as an image of the structure appeared on Izzy's laptop.

Seeing it, it looked more than ten thousand years old and appeared more on the surface than it was on Earth, where it took the form of a giant golden temple, where pillars of light purple crystals circled around the construct.

But what was the most astonishing to all, save the Appli Drivers, were the imprints upon the walls, carvings of the Crests of Light and of Miracles.

"Ok... for that to just disappear from our world and show up in the Digital World, especially now, is no coincidence." Takato commented, earning a nod from Guilmon, who suggested. "We should check it out."

'No! Don't go there!' The Dark Queen yelled in Kari's head, causing her to place her hand on her head as she felt a headache from it, causing the others to look at her with worry.

Concerned for his love, Davis asked. "Kari! Kari, what's wrong?"

"The Dark Queen... She's screaming for us not to go there..." Kari replied, before gaining a look of annoyance and determination as she then commented. "And that alone tells me we should go see it."

'Don't you dare defy me, girl!' The Dark Kari yelled, but Kari ignored her as she got up, with Davis' assistance, while the others got what they needed and prepared to head back to the Digital World.

-Moments later-

Walking out of the city gates, the group began to approach the temple, with Kari still gripping her head as the Dark Queen continued to scream in her head, continuing to do what she could to drive Kari away.

"Kari, we can stop if you need..." Davis started to say in worry, not wanting his girlfriend to suffer, but Kari shook her head in reply.

"It's ok, Davis... I... I can keep going..." Kari assured, pushing herself further.

Whatever this place was, the Dark Kari didn't like it, and she had to find out why.

As they got closer, however, Kari noticed something that caused her eyes to widen.

While the Dark Queen was still screaming, the volume of her voice was getting lower, causing her to quickly grab Davis' hand as she pulled him towards the Temple, with Gatomon and Veemon quickly running after them.

"Kari what...?!" Davis let out in confusion, where Kari cut in and informed. "She's getting quieter the closer we get to this place."

Ignoring the cries from the others to slow down, as well as the Dark Queen's screams, Kari quickly reached the temple wall with Davis, Gatomon and Veemon right next to her as she placed her hand on the smooth surface.

The next thing the four knew, they were no longer outside, but in what looked like a large zen garden, with crystal trees and strange markings on the walls of the dome structure, which included the Crests of Light and Miracles.

Kari, however, let out a sigh of relief, for she no longer heard her dark counterpart screaming in her mind, nor felt her presence, as though she was thrown back into whatever dark corner of her mind she originally hid in.

"What is this place?" Veemon questioned as he and Gatomon looked around, seeing the whole structure, before Davis stopped walking, seeing what looked like a hooded figure wearing gold robes and standing in the middle of garden with his head down.

Unsure if this being would be an ally or would try and attack, Davis and Veemon moved ahead of Kari and Gatomon, keeping an eye on the girls as all four slowly approached the figure.

Wanting some answers, Kari started to ask as they got closer to the figure. "Excuse us, but...?"

It was then that the figure lifted its head, showing its face or, much to the fours surprise, lack there of, for in the place of a head was a bright light, not enough to blind, but enough to show that it had the form of a humanoid.

"**Welcome, Kari Kamiya, Davis Motomiya, and you two as well, Veemon and Gatomon. I have been waiting for you.**" The being said, its voice smooth, calming, and seemingly trustworthy, but still, the four kept their guard up.

"Who are you?" Gatomon asked as she moved in front of Kari in a defensive way as she looked at the being, who remained in their calmed state.

"**I have gone by many names through time and space, but you may call me Izael. But I believe there is a far more important question on your minds.**" The being now known as Izael said in reply, causing the four to look at one another, before Davis looked back at him and asked. "What are you?"

Nodding his head, Izael moved his right hand to the side, showing that it too seemed to be made of light, where the two Digidestined and their partners saw the sand on the ground moving, taking shapes and showing imagery.

"**From the darkness my kind came into existence, bringing the light with us, and thus, allowing the reality as you know it to come into existence. We sought only to bring peace, understanding and enlightenment to all those that came to follow.**" Izael explained as they saw images of beings like him floating over worlds, people, before seeing what looked like tendrils starting to come out around the imagery.

"**But we were not the first. The Dark Ones existed before us, and viewed our work as an abomination to the Darkness they existed in, and thus they sought to undo this reality, all of existence, and return it to the darkness once more.**" Izael then explained, surprising Davis, Kari and their partners.

Davis then widened his eyes as realization hit him, where he asked in astonishment. "The Dark Sphere, they sent it, didn't they?"

"**Yes. They knew Kari would come to it, and they knew using your death would help push her to become their champion.**" Izael replied, before adding. "**And they have tried this before. In one reality, they manipulated events so that a Virus would infect Kari, bringing her darker personality out, consuming her and nearly causing the end of the Digital World, even using you as a puppet to carry out her terrible deeds, before your friends in that timeline managed to free her of the virus."**

**"****The Dark Ones then tried to correct this mistake by sending one of their servants to force her back to the darkness, but it failed, and they have moved onto other attempts, all focused on the two of you, including the darker version residing in your mind, the power of this place preventing her from hearing and seeing what's going on.**" Izael then informed, shocking Kari and Davis, before the brunette asked in shock and frustration. "Why? What do they want with me? Why do they seemed focused on me?!"

Davis held Kari close, trying to calm her down, but he too wanted answers, angry that these dark forces seemed so focused on Kari, before Izael answered them.

"**During our last great conflict with the Dark Ones, the greatest of their kind, a being that could destroy entire realities, and two of great warriors, champions of the light, and lovers in their own right, battled. The fight ended with all three shattering, their essence mingling and spreading across time and space. And yet, wherever the merged fragments form, they always emerge as the same two people... you two.**" The Light Being said, causing Kari and Davis' eyes to widen as they processed what they heard.

"You... you mean we're...?" Davis tried to say, still not taking in what they were hearing.

"**You are both fragments of not only the warriors of light, but of the great darkness as well.**" Izael explained, shocking the pair and their partners even more, where Kari's eyes widened in fear as she realized something.

"Then... then my counterpart's powers... they weren't from the Dark Sphere?" She asked, causing Davis to look in shock as he realized what she meant, while the Light Being nodded in reply.

"**No, they were from the part of the Dark One's fragment, the sphere only helped unlock it.**" Izael explained, causing Kari to realize what a destructive power she might be hiding inside of herself.

"**And yet, the love you two share for one another has helped keep the darkness at bay. You two are, for lack of a better term, Soulmates, destined to be with each other. The Dark Ones know this, and first tired using your repressed feelings for him to use you, then use his death to try another way, all to revive their brethren and bring forth the end of all things.**" Izael informed, causing Kari to then think of her dream, of the memory of her counterpart and the pain she felt, it was like she had indeed lost a part of herself.

"She hates you, she blames you for her Davis' death, thinking that you could have saved her." Kari said as she looked at the being of light, who nodded in reply.

"**We most likely could have saved him and prevented his death, but you must understand, my kin long ago came to the decision to not interfere in the lives of mortals. This decision came for many reasons, to separate us from the Dark ones, to allow your kind to grow and prosper on their own, but most of all, and unfortunately, because many of my kind believe that what transpires in the mortal worlds ins beneath us, that we have better things to do than look out for your kind, who can choose to be good or evil as you will. I know once I return to my people, I will no doubt be punished severely just for having spoken with you and telling you all this.**" Izael then said, shocking Davis, Kari and the Digimon that he was willing to talk to them, knowing he would be punished for doing so, causing Gatomon to ask. "Why then?"

"**Some of my kin, those with the most authoritative voices, believe that only our great power can keep the darkness back, but that is not what I've seen. Human, Digimon and others can indeed be creatures of destruction, but they are also capable of great acts of love, kindness, and for these, I believe you are worth saving.**" The Light Being said as he approached Kari and Davis, holding out his hands as thought for the pair to take them, which then did, where his hands got slightly brighter.

"**This is all I can do to help when the Dark Queen strikes. It will protect you from her dark power. She will wait until the opportune moment, then she will go through with what she has planned. You must be careful.**" Izael said, letting go of their hands, with Kari and Davis not feeling any different, but trusted this being's words.

"**Fair well, champions. I wish you luck in your battles ahead.**" Izael finished, before the entire room was filled with a blinding light.

The next thing the four knew they were outside once again, but the temple had vanished, just as the others reached them, where Zoe looked confused and said. "What happened? You touched it and then it just vanished."

Kari, Davis and their partners then realized that no time passed for those outside, before Kari gripped her head as she once again heard her dark counterpart screaming. 'What did he say!? What did he do!? Tell me!"

Giving Davis a look, a silent agreement was made, that they would not speak of this to one another as long as the Dark Kari resided inside of the Digidestined of Light, one Veemon and Gatomon shared as well.

They would tell the others, but only when Kari was out of earshot, and thus out of the range of the Dark Queen's.

"We should head back." Davis said as he looked at the others with a look of 'Don't ask right now', getting nods from the others as they all turned and walked back to the City, while inside of Kari, the Dark Queen seethed with anger.

'Whatever he did, it won't stop me. I will have Davis back, and I will have my revenge!' The Dark Kari thought to herself with a dark and confident smirk, believing that eventually, Davis would be hers'.

-Later-

Back in the DPF tower, Kari and Gatomon asked to talk with the Appli Drivers, wanting to ask them questions about their adventure as they went into a lounge room, while within the main command room, Davis and Veemon told the others what had happened, leaving them shocked and filled with many questions.

"That... that's a lot to take in..." Tai said as he sat down in a chair, while Davis looked at him and asked. "How do you think I feel?"

"I'm the one that's apparently a partial reincarnation of two ancient warriors and a monster that can tear reality apart." The Digidestined of Miracles then added.

Izzy was in thought for a moment, before he said aloud. "That's probably why we haven't seen the Dark Sphere yet. If these 'Dark Ones' can apparently interact across time and space, then they had no reason to send it here if you were still alive, they wouldn't have anything to entice Kari with."

"These things... they just toy with us like we're chess pieces or worse." Marcus said in anger, punching the wall in the process and leaving an indentation within, which freaked some out like Kazu and Kenta, while Yoshi was irritated to see Marcus break DATS property yet again.

"Guys, we have to stay calm." Takato said calmly, where Mikey picked up and said. "He's right, for now, until the Dark Queen makes her move, we need to focus on A.R.E.S. and stopping it before it can complete its plans."

"They're right, but we can't talk about this anymore either, not when Kari's around. We don't know what Izael gave us to counter her, but the less the Dark Queen knows, the better." Davis said, getting nods from everyone within the room, just before the alarms in the command center went off, causing them to look at the screens as they saw the digital map showing a big red dot in the arctic regions.

"We're picking up A.R.E.S.' signal again. It's coming from the northern regions." Miki informed from her terminal as Kari, Gatomon and the Appli Drivers came in, seeing the reading from A.R.E.S.

"Alright guys, we need to prepare for anything. Let's go!" Davis said with enthusiasm, getting nods from the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers, ready to head out and face the A.I. unaware of what it had instore for them.


	6. Chapter 6

Once the various teams were outside the City's gates, the Appli Drivers watched in awe as they various Digi-heroes all Digivolve into their highest forms, with Kari and Davis, Biomerging into Lightbringer Ophanimon and SaviourVeedramon for the first time since the final battle with the Dark Legion, while Matt and Tai surprised everyone as BlitzGreymon and CresGarurumon fused into a new form of Omnimon, Alter-S, as Ken, Yolei and Cody Biomerged with their partners to become GrandiKuwagamon, Valyirmon and Dominimon.

Tk and Patamon then surprised even their friends and Matt as the two Biomerged for the first time, turning into a divine dragon Digimon known and Goldramon.

The Tamers used the power of the Biomerge, combining their very beings and their power with their respective Digimon partners, calling out Gallantmon, Sakuyamon, MegaGargomon, Justimon and HiAndromon, while Calumon shared his power of Digivolution, allowing Impmon and Lopmon to Digivolve to Antylamon and Beelzemon.

The Legendary Warriors meanwhile all harnessing the power of their Beast Spirits, save for Takuya and Koji, bringing forth EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon, where they were followed by the DATS, using the D.N.A. Charge to bring forth the Burst Modes of ShineGreymon, MirageGaoGamon, Rosemon and Ravemon.

Knowing it would be a tough battle, the Fusion Fighters called upon their more mightier Digimon, Digivolving Shoutmon to OmniShoutmon, Digi-Fusing Greymon and MailBirdramon to MetalGreymon, who was then Digivolved to ZekeGreymon, while Tagiru, Yuu, Nene and Airu called upon the powers of Arresterdramon SM, Tuwarmon, the Digi-Fused form of Sparrowmon and Mervamon to add JetMervamon to their ranks, and lastly Cho-Hakkaimon.

Upon seeing all the Digimon, their forms and how alternate some of their evolutions were, the App Drivers were left in awe, before Astora and Musimon both crossed their hands, performed their signature pose and all but yelled. "So Groovy!"

"That is impressive." Gatchmon had to confess, awe expressing his face, before it turned to a grin as he looked at Haru.

"But let's show them what we can do!" The search Appmon declared, causing Haru to nod in reply, drawing out his App Drive Duo, as did Eri, Astora, Yujin, Rei and Hajime, before the App Drivers slid in their respective App Chips and harnessed their power.

Reacting to the energy of Haru and his friends, the six Appmon were turned into energy, where they entered the devices, allowing the power of their partners to fill them, altering their forms, where six lines of energy shot out as the newly upgraded Appmon made their debut to their allies.

"Globemon!"

"Entermon!"

"Oujamon!"

"Shutmon!"

"Reviemon!"

"Bootmon!"

The Digi-heroes all looked intrigued at the ultimate forms of the Appmon.

Though most were around the same size as WarGreymon, they each looked powerful in their own right, with the Digi-heroes looking at their new allies in awe, some of the girls stunned to see Offmon changing from the shy Appmon he was to a mighty looking beast warrior, where he gave a mighty howl, ready to fight.

However...

"So cute!" Airu called, hearts filling her eyes as she grabbed at Shutmon's arm, rubbing her head against it. "You are so cute, but a scary cute, just like my Cho-Hakkaimon. I want to add you to my collection!"

Airu then stopped when she heard a growl, looking up to see Shutmon growling, before she let go and backed away slightly.

"Actually, Cho-Hakkaimon is all the cuteness I need right now." The blonde said nervously as she hid behind her partner with a nervous smile, causing Yuu to sigh at Airu's antics.

"Not bad. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys in action." SaviourVeedramon said with a wave, before the group then headed out towards the north, with those that couldn't Biomerge riding with their partners as the Appli Drivers were carried by MegaGargomon, earning another 'So Groovy!' from Astora at the form of transportation, one he had to capture with a selfie.

Eventually, as the teams moved, the terrain began to change from the warm summer look most of the Digital World had and into the snow-covered landscape, with the only indication that they were getting close being the flashing red lights on the horizon.

However, the group quickly came to a halt as a large swarm came from that horizon, swarming like a barrier before them, where the Digi-heroes saw that these were strange, squid-like creatures, each spewing a purple mist from their gas masks that filled the air around them, causing Raffalismon to question with some disgust. "What are these gross looking things?"

"Virusmon! Watch out, they carry a Virus Leviathan made that causes Appmon to go wild!" Haru warned as MegaGargomon let everyone off.

"A.R.E.S. might have modified it, so we need to be extra cautious." Yujin said, anticipating the new A.I. would have studied and learnt from Leviathan's mistakes as to create a more destructive bio weapon.

'Smart idea to think on.' Kari heard her dark counterpart say in her mind, causing her to groan, not wanting to deal with her right now, before Gatomon groaned and added through their link. 'Great, now I can hear her too.'

'You be a good kitty, or you might regret it.' The Dark Queen said with a smirk, but before Gatomon could reply back, they heard three wicked laughs, looking to see three figures moving towards them on the ground, moving through the mist and revealing themselves and causing the Appli Drivers to look in shock at who they saw.

The first looked to be more of a machine based being from the way its body was constructed, where it was clad in green armour that had sections of the armour coated in yellow, namely around its chest, face and upon the sections which looked like the being's hands, where all saw that this thing had syringes for fingers, which could detach through thick lines and freely swing around, a sight of which filling many with fear.

By his left was a more humanoid based Appmon, which looked like a jester, where it was clad in a dark purple suit and a matching cap that was divided into a lighter shade of purple on the right and dark purple on the left, with golden arrow shaped spikes set at the tips, while their face consisted of a silver mask with a creepy grin stretched upon it.

The pants of this being shared the same trait of light and dark, patterned into lines along each leg, dark purple gloves and matching boots covered his hands and feet respectively, leaving a long red cape that protruded down his back.

And like the needle fingered Appmon, his form creeped some of the heroes out, especially hearing it let out an eerie laugh.

Lastly, all saw that amongst the three, there was a female amongst the group.

Taking in her appearance, some could see certain qualities of her that reminded them of Angewomon, noticing the serene beauty of the Appmon, how her hair flowed down her back, save for it being a shade of pink, the angelic wings that emerged from her back, as well as the fact she too had a mask of sorts that concealed her eyes.

But unlike Angewomon, everyone against her could tell that behind her slender figure, which was covered by a black dress, and behind her sweet smile, she was a force for evil.

And like all the enemy Appmon they've seen so far, A.R.E.S. emblem glowed brightly on their foreheads.

The Appli Drivers and their partners all glared at the figures, with Eri looking at the female enemy and calling out with a growl. "Beautymon!"

"Fakemon!" Astora then added, his fingers pointed down in disapproval, while Rei glared at the robotic-like Appmon and said with a great anger. "Biomon."

"So good to see you haven't forgotten about us, Rei." Biomon said back, drawing out his needle-like fingers and adding with a dark laced voice. "We have a little business to deal with regarding your previous examination."

"And looking around, I can see so many new patients. Let me operate, let me experiment!" Biomon then let out with an insane laugh, unnerving the Digi-heroes a little. as they back up a little.

"That's Biomon. He's the one who operated on Hajime and tried to eliminate Rei." Revivemon informed, glaring at the Appmon.

"And as bad as he is, Fakemon is just as uncool. Not only does he fight dirty, but every time you think you've got him, he fakes out and switches with a balloon decoy." Astora then added as the jester Appmon laughed loudly.

"I only want the fun we have to last that much longer, is that a crime?" Fakemon asked, his tone obviously mocking Astora, where he and Entermon glared at the jester.

"Ok, this guy might creep me out more than Piedmon did." Joe commented.

"Aren't we forgetting somebody?" All then heard the female Appmon question, making sure that she was the centre of attention.

"Ah, so many new faces, too bad I'm the prettiest out of all of them." Beautymon then commented with a giggle, causing most of the females to gain a tick mark on their foreheads as they glared at the female Appmon.

"Ok, I don't like her." Airu commented with a growl, her words causing Cho-Hakkaimon to nod and say. "Just say the word and I'll bash that ugly face."

Upon hearing the word 'ugly', the vibe around Beautymon changed.

"You... you dare call me ugly?" She questioned, all her anger, all her hate drawn to Cho-Hakkaimon, before a sinister smile appeared on her face as she snapped her fingers, causing a full body mirror to appear between her and Cho-Hakkaimon.

"Let's see who the real ugly one is." Beautymon said, before calling to the mirror. "Mirror, show me who is the most beautiful in this sea of miscreants."

Reacting to Beautymon's words, the mirror began to turn to her, the smile on Beautymon's face growing as the mirror came closer to face her, only to come to a sudden halt and change direction, pointing toward Lightbringer Ophanimon, before changing to Sakuyamon, then directing itself to Eri and continuing to change its choice, finding that each woman had qualities beyond their physical looks that made them beautiful in their own way.

"Unable to choose... Selection impossible due to numbers... Good bye..." The Mirror said before vanishing, where the Dark Queen said in Kari's mind. 'Smart move.'

Ignoring the rant Beautymon then went into, to the point she was stomping and yelling like a spoilt child, Globemon began to look around, as though looking for someone, where he then looked at the three and all but demanded. "Where's Charismon?!"

"Lord A.R.E.S. has other plans for him, don't worry." Biomon said with a laugh, which made Globemon worry even more, remembering what the most zealous of the four was like and how strong he was.

SaviourVeedramon then took charge as he stepped forward and said. "Give up. We have you outnumbered and you can't win against all of us."

However, the three Appmon laughed wickedly, causing the knight Digimon to narrow his eyes, before Fakemon then asked. "How can they have time for us, when they're too busy fighting you?"

Without warning, Biomon's needle fingers quickly shot out at SaviourVeedramon, wrapping around him, before throwing the dragon knight Digimon behind the three, where he crashed into some of the Virusmon, which not only sent out an electric shock that caused SaviourVeedramon some pain, but for the purple mist to start surrounding him, concerning everyone.

"Davis/Veemon!" Lightbringer Ophanimon cried out in worry at the sight, where SaviourVeedramon then crashed into the ground below.

Seeing a dark aura start to form around their friend, the Digi-heroes got worried as SaviourVeedramon then slowly got up, before looking at them with glowing red eyes as he suddenly let out a rage filled cry, where he then launched himself, closing the distance between himself and Omnimon Alter-S with his blades drawn, causing the fused form of the Digimon of Courage and Friendship to quickly use his own blade to block the attack as he was pushed back.

"Guys...!" All heard Veemon say through the rampaging form that was SaviourVeedramon, where he then informed. "I'm fine but I can't get through to Davis. I have no control anymore!"

"Davis, stop!" Gallantmon yelled as he rushed to help Omnimon, only to quickly go on the defensive himself as SaviourVeedramon turned his attack on him, causing Gallantmon to use his shield to block his berserk friend's blades.

"C'mon, Davis, snap out of it..." Gallantmon groaned, doing his best to keep SaviourVeedramon at bay, but he could see that his words were just ignored by the rage driven Digimon.

Looking over to Haru and the others, Thomas commented. "Now we can see just how bad this L-Virus was."

"But how do we purge it from SaviourVeedramon?" The blond then asked.

"The only way is to defeat him. Whenever we'd encounter an L-Virus infected Appmon, by dealing enough damage to it, the Appmon would automatically purge the virus from itself and restart." Globemon said in reply, looking back at SaviourVeedramon and saying with doubt. "But even I'm not sure that will work at the moment. This Virus is acting differently if Veemon is fine but Davis is infected."

"Yes! His new A-Virus will spread across this 'Digital World', driving all the Digimon into chaos, before he'll unleash them on the human worlds!" Biomon said with an insane laugh, causing the heroes to look worried as EmperorGreymon and OmniShoutmon had joined in to try and stop Davis.

"Wait up guys, we..." Arresterdramon then tried to call out, leaving those unsure whether the Superstar Digimon was trying to use reason or wanted to proceed to battle himself, only for the sound of missile fire to get their attention, causing the humans, Digimon and Appmon to move quickly and avoid the missiles, looking to see a legion of A.R.E.S.' combat drones, including newer ones that looked like they had spider legs and were as large as Imperialdramon, standing just behind the wall of Virusmon as they opened fire at the Digi-heroes.

Knowing they would have to deal with Davis later, a selection of the Digimon turned their attention on A.R.E.S' forces.

"Divine Light!"

"Crimson Flare!"

"Ballet Gun!"

"Mega Electroshocker!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Grandis Whirlwind!"

"Punishing Storm!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Mega Barrage!"

"Spirit Strike!"

"Thunderclap!"

"Fatal Flame!"

"Magna Rocket!"

"Hurricane Gale!"

"Avalanche Axes!"

"Bolo Thunder!"

"Final Shining Burst!"

"Final Mirage Burst!"

"Jewel of Heart!"

"Crimson Formation!"

"Porte Melos!"

"Saver Strahl!"

The onslaught of attacks all shot towards the drones, causing a massive explosion, with the heroes thinking they had won, only to be shocked when the smoke cleared, showing that the swarm of Virusmon had moved to protect the drones, destroying many of their own in the process, before they were replaced, while the drones remained unharmed as they began firing once again, causing the heroes to quickly move and dodge the incoming fire.

"It's no good. So long as those Virusmon are around, we can't attack without them getting in the way." Sakuyamon said with frustration in their tone.

"And we can't get too close either or we'll get infected." Mikey pointed out, hating the thought of them being turned against their friends or their friends in a similar state to the one SaviourVeedramon continued to express with blind rage.

Meanwhile, SavourVeedramon was moving quickly between the four Digimon as he tried to attack them, with Omnimon blocking with his sword as he said in the combined voice of Tai, Matt, Agumon and Gabumon. "Davis, calm down! We're your friends, remember?!"

"With friends like you I don't need enemies!" Davis yelled as SaviourVeedramon delivered a swift kick to the larger knight Digimon's chest, sending him flying back a few feet, the declaration unnerving Tai and Mat a little, before Omnimon quickly blocked once again.

"You made me the next leader and for what?! For everyone to mock me... to laugh at me? To talk behind my back!" Davis yelled as he tried to push his blades harder against Omnimon.

Confused, Tai, through Omnimon Alter-S, had to ask. "Davis, what are you talking about?"

"I know you all saw me as just a fool, a new punching bag they could make fun of! You never wanted a replacement, you just wanted someone else for them to put down while they followed TK and ignored me!" Davis yelled, raising his right arm to strike at Omnimon's head, only to swing and block EmperorGreymon's blade.

'Man, I never realized how strong this form was.' Takuya thought with a groan as he felt the strength of SaviourVeedramon for the first time, only for him and the others to realize that this virus was bringing out Davis' suppressed anger and negative emotions, using them to control him.

Keeping Davis at bay, his blade clashing against SaviourVeedramon's, EmperorGreymon called. "Guys, I now know what the virus is doing, it's messing with Davis' head, bringing out his repressed anger. And that's why it didn't affect Veemon. Veemon's lack of anger and darkness was overpowered by what Davis has been keeping to himself."

"So if we can remind Davis of all the good times, he'll go back to normal?" Veemon asked with hope, only to be cut in as Davis yelled with rage. "Shut up!"

"What do you know?!" Davis then questioned as SaviourVeedramon then swung his blade at EmperorGreymon,

"What do you know about what I've been through? Your team respects you, follows your lead, while mine treats me like a joke!" Davis yelled as he continued to try and strike EmperorGreymon, only for Gallantmon's lance to block him.

"They didn't always." Takuya admitted, remembering when his adventures in his Digital World began as he then said. "When I was starting off as a Legendary Warrior, I was much like you. I was careless, thoughtless and put myself in danger, thinking that the Digital World was more like a computer game than anything, but after I was given the chance to go back home and just pretend all I had done never happened, I realized that I had to grow up, I had to be brave and face my fears. But most of all, I had to look out for my friends. After that, I gained their respect, just like you did for your team."

"Shut up!" Davis yelled back, refusing to accept Takuya's words, before he kicked EmperorGreymon to the ground, pushed Gallantmon's lance back and began to swing at the knight Digimon, who used his shield to block as Takato began to speak.

"Davis, you have to try and listen to us. You are letting your anger control you, and believe me, that is the last thing you want. The anger, the hatred, everything you feel will only lead to pain, suffering and disaster." Takato called through Gallantmon, reliving his own dark past.

"Guilmon and I both know what you are going through. We allowed our emotions to consume us, turning Guilmon into a monster that I encouraged to destroy." Gallantmon then said as the memory of Megidramon came to mind, calming down as he stated. "If it wasn't for our friends, I would've lost Guilmon forever."

"At least you have friends!" Davis yelled in rage, before knocking Gallantmon's hands up, where the knight Digimon's eyes widened as he saw SaviourVeedramon's chest glow brightly.

"Radiant Blast!" Davis cried out as the energy shot out and hit Gallantmon in the chest, sending him flying back, the damage too much for Gallantmon to withstand, before the Biomerge broke where he reverted back to the bruised forms of Takato and Guilmon, where Jeri came to check on them.

With one of his new enemies down for the time being, SaviourVeedramon then turned and used his blades to block Omnimon's strike, before he felt someone grab him from behind, causing him to struggle as he looked and glared behind him at OmniShoutmon.

"Davis, you are a good person, I can see that in your heart. You are a selfless person, somebody strong, but you are stronger when you have others by your side." "Before I was the Digimon King, I was weak, I was reckless, but with Mikey, Ballistamon and every friend I made, I grew strong and found the power I needed to make my Digital World a place of peace, one where the strong and the weak work together instead of turning and fighting for power."

"Sure, it took awhile for everyone to respect me. Heck, Cutemon even threw a rock at me once, not to mention Greymon and MailBirdramon laughed at my dreams." OmniShoutmon then added, as though to try and relate to what Davis was going through, before they heard Cutemon's voice yelling through Mikey's Fusion Loader. "You were sleeping when you were supposed to be on watch!"

"Every obstacle I overcame, every trouble I encountered, I know I couldn't have done without my friends and those who claimed otherwise, so stop listening to your doubts and listen to your heart already." OmniShoutmon said as he tried to hold SaviourVeedramon, while Omnimon continued to struggle against his enraged friend's blades.

"Davis, you were never a joke to us. I made you the next leader because I believed in you. I knew you would make a great leader after the way you managed to harness the power of the Digi-Egg of Courage and save Kari. You were a true hero and even more, a true friend." Tai said through Omnimon Alter-S, before adding. "And you made a better leader than I did. I could barely keep us together, heck we split up twice during our adventures and I couldn't do anything to stop it. Matt and I even broke into a fight when we were in enemy territory."

"Don't remind me." Matt then added, before he said to Davis. "You believed in Ken when nobody else would. You put the needs of your team over yourself over and over again, helping them get through the worst of things, the worst of..."

"And they still treat me like I'm nothing!" Davis screamed in rage as SaviourVeedramon's body glowed, sending off a shockwave of energy and knocking Omnimon Alter-S and OmniShoutmon back, where Davis was about to strike once again, only to find himself in a restrictive hold once more, growling as he saw GrandisKuwagamon holding his right arm, Valkyrimon his left, Dominimon using hand to help hold SaviourVeedramon's from the front, and Goldramon's tail around his legs as he held his shoulders.

"You are wrong, Davis. Everything you're thinking right now is wrong." Valkyrimon stated, where Yolei then said through her Biomerged form. "Yes, I admit we didn't start off on the best of terms, but who does? A friendship will always have its downsides, but you just have to learn to take the good with the bad, that is something you taught me."

"You might doubt it, but you were always our leader. You looked out for us and you always tried your hardest to make sure we never gave up on ourselves." Dominimon added, just before GrandisKuwagamon said. "And you never gave up on me. When everyone believed I was still the enemy, you continued to approach me, to be my friend. You helped me step out of the darkness and made me see that I could change, that I could use my power the right way. That is something I will always respect."

As GrandisKuwagamon, Valkyrimon and Dominimon did their best to keep SaviourVeedramon restrained, facing the infected Digidestined of Miracles as he too kept him bound, though Goldramon, TK then let out his own emotions and feelings of respect toward Davis, telling him. "We've had our differences as well, but I've always admired your determination, your courage, things I don't have, things that make it impossible for me to be a leader."

"You... you took her from me..." Davis growled as he continued to struggle, causing TK's eyes to widen through his Biomerged form, before he reminded Davis. "Davis, Kari loves you, you two have been together."

"Wha...?" Davis started to ask, his struggling pausing for a second as he tried to shake his head, his mind still being clouded by his rage.

"Davis!" He then heard his name called, where he turned his head, seeing Lightbringer Ophanimon land and De-Digivolve, returning to Kari and Gatomon, despite the battle still going on, as they ran towards him, seeing the look of worry on her face.

It was then that the memories pushed through his rage, where Davis remembered that he and Kari were together, remembering the time they've spent, before he pushed the others off and SaviourVeedramon ran toward a large rock, punching it and yelling as he tried to rid himself of his anger, shattering the rock with one final cry, before falling to his knees, reverting back to Davis and Veemon, who let out a relieved sigh, while Davis fell face forward, exhausted from the rage he felt as it finally left him.

Quickly rushing to his side, Kari got on her knees and moved Davis' head onto her lap, worry filling her, before she gained a frown as she heard her counterpart laughing wickedly.

'What the hell is so funny?! That Virus could have killed him!' Kari growled in her mind, where the Dark Queen replied back with a smirk. 'But it was worth it to see him finally show his true emotions and lash out at these insects for all they've put him through. Don't try and deny it, you know you liked it too.'

Kari didn't reply, not wanting to give her counterpart the satisfaction of knowing she was somewhat right, that after remembering how the others would joke about him, that a part of her wanted to hear him fight back.

But hearing Davis give off a faint groan as he regained consciousness, Kari's attention was immediately drawn to her love.

Davis then opened his eyes slowly, looking up to see Kari smiling down at him with teary eyes, while he felt guilt over what he had done, looking up as Kari helped him sit up to see Takato, Jeri, Guilmon, and those he fought coming over to him, where he then said apologetically. "Guys, I'm.. I'm sorry, I thought I had gotten over all that... I..."

"It's alright, Davis. We're just glad you're ok." Omnimon Alter-S said with a reassuring voice, before they then heard Globemon yell out. "Glad to see he's ok, now can you all please help here?!"

The other Digimon nodded and headed off to help, leaving Takato, Guilmon and Jeri with Kari and Gatomon to look out for Davis and Veemon as they joined the fight.

"What do we do? We can't get through to them." Omnimon then stated as he used his blade to cut through some missiles heading for him, but he could see that with each attack, more and more Virusmon showed up, continuing to spread and live up to their name, using themselves and their mist like a shield for the drones.

"Leave that to me. Once I attack you all quickly follow up." Globemon stated as he flew high into the air, dodging the fire from the drones, while Biomon, Beautymon and Fakemon looked up in confusion.

From his position, Globemon looked upon all the Virusmon, gathering light within the blue core set within his chest, where he then called. "Ultimate Search!"

With his power, through Globemon's eyes, he could see every single Virusmon, targeting all of them for one attack.

"Virusmon needing to be terminated: 1,000,000." Globemon said, causing HiAndromon to say with shock. "How are we supposed to defeat that many!?"

"Leave that to me." The global Appmon replied calmly, gathering a secondary amount of energy in his chest, only this energy would be used for destruction.

"Glanz Gazer!" Globemon called out as he fired the energy into the sky, which turned into several large orbs, before firing an endless barrage of blasts down, hitting every single Virusmon, destroying them at an alarming rate, surprising everyone at how fast they were being wiped out, watching with astonishment to see a monitor displaying the number of Virusmon being wiped out so rapidly.

"Now!" Globemon then called out as the numbers of Virusmon were low enough that the others could inflict damage of their own.

"Grey Canon!"

"Crimson Flare!"

"Ballet Gun!"

"Mega Electroshocker!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Grandis Whirlwind!"

"Punishing Storm!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Mega Barrage!"

"Spirit Strike!"

"Thunderclap!"

"Fatal Flame!"

"Pyro Dragons!"

"Magna Rocket!"

"Hurricane Gale!"

"Avalanche Axes!"

"Bolo Thunder!"

"Final Shining Burst!"

"Final Mirage Burst!"

"Jewel of Heart!"

"Crimson Formation!"

"Flame Cannon!"

"Plasma Railgun!"

"Porte Melos!"

"Saver Strahl!"

"Golden Fang!"

Casting out a second line of attacks, with Biomon, Fakemon and Beautymon just barely moving out of the way and avoiding the blasts, the Digidestined, Tamers, Legendary Warriors, DATS, Fusion Fighters and the Appli Drivers all smiled as they watched not only the last line of Virusmon disposed of, but also all the drones as they were destroyed, leaving a huge cloud of smoke from the combination of their attack and the wreckage, leaving the heroes smiling.

However, the moment was short lived as, out of the smoke, another swarm came out, this time of something new, at least for the Digi-heroes, but for the Appli Drivers, it was a familiar sight, thousands of Charismon's eye drones.

"Run!" Globemon yelled from above as blasts of laser fire shot out of the eyes, causing the heroes to scatter and try to avoid the fire as they tried to take the eye drones out.

"There's too man..." Raffalismon started to say as one of the drones flew close to her, circling around and coming face to face with her, where it began to glow a bright red, causing her eyes to glaze over and Raffalismon's body to go limp, her mouth to hang adroop as she stared vacantly at the drone, before she disappeared in a beam of red energy as the drone took her.

"Mimi!" Izzy cried out from HerculesKabuterimon's shoulder, before he moved out of the way of the drones and their attack.

Likewise, Another drone came close to Astora, freaking him out for a moment, before the same thing happened to him, leaving him with a vacant expression before he was teleported away.

"Astora!" Eri cried out with Entermon, before they saw ZekeGreymon and EmperorGreymon also disappear, they too taken by Charismon's drones.

They then saw Justimon, Nene, Yoshi and Rosemon: BM vanish, before Takato looked to see one drone before Jeri and Guilmon, just before his watched his girlfriend and partner vanish before his eyes.

"Guilmon! Jeri!" Takato cried out, reaching out as the pair were taken away from him, where the brunette clenched his hands, glared at Biomon, Fakemon and Beautymon and all but yelled. "What have you done with them?"

"Don't worry, you'll see your friends soon enough." Biomon said with a laugh as the drones continued to swarm through the area.

"This isn't good, we need to regroup, fall back!" Omnimon Alter-S called as the group turned and retreated back towards Axis City, with the three Ultimate Appmon laughing wickedly as they retreated towards A.R.E.S.' Core base, ready to help their master with his next plans.


	7. Chapter 7

Within the DPF's command room, the mood was tense, with everyone worried for those who were captured by A.R.E.S.' forces as Eri was in a state of worry and panic over Astora's fate while Dokamon and Musimon tried to comfort her, a scene being mimicked as the remaining Warriors tried to keep Zoe calm, knowing that she was worried about Takuya's safety, while Koji and the others were grateful that they had learned how to give the Warriors of Flame and Light their spirit energies to evolve into EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon without losing the spirits themselves and not putting them at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Yuu and Tagiru were both worried and pissed, feeling a great concern for Nene's safety as her brother and boyfriend respectively, feelings Mervamon and Sparrowmon also shared for their partner and friend.

Takato, meanwhile, was in his own state of despair, with both his girlfriend and partner now in the clutches of their enemy, as well as close friends, leaving the lead Tamer feeling useless and powerless, a feeling Marcus shared as he and the DATS members worried for Yoshi and Lalamon.

Meanwhile...

"We need to go back now!" Izzy yelled in anger to Sampson, who remained stalwart, despite being a little shocked by the anger in the usually calm and reasonable member of the group, while Tai and Matt tried to calm him down as the brunette started to say. "Izzy, we will, but we can't without a plan, we need..."

"That is my wife and her partner! I refuse to leave them!" Izzy yelled, allowing his emotions to continue to get the better of him, before feeling a hand on his shoulder, looking to see Yolei, who held a sympathetic look as she said. "We're not leaving them, but we can't rush in blindly again or things will only get worse."

"What happened with them anyways? They all just stood there when those eye things came before being teleported away." Gomamon questioned in confusion, before seeing Gatchmon bring his magnifying glass down as he brought up the info on the lead member of the Ultimate 4.

"They were influenced by Charismon's powers." Gatchmon replied, before he explained to the others. "Charismon was the Mind Control Appmon who could use his influential powers to manipulate the minds of others and think how he wanted them to think."

"Wait, why didn't he do that to us before?" Eri asked in confusion, wondering why, if Charismon could really do that, that he didn't just control them to serve Leviathan and be done with it.

"Because Leviathan wanted us to beat him. Remember, it planned for every action we took until the very end." Rei reminded the pink haired girl, causing the Digi-heroes to get slightly nervous as to how far in advance their enemy seems to plan.

"Then... then what will A.R.E.S. do with them?" Suzie asked in concern, with Cody placing his arm around her for comfort.

"Most likely use them as living shields against us, knowing we will try not to harm them." Christopher replied, clenching his thought of ZekeGreymon, hoping he was alright.

"It.. it'll use Jeri like that?" Takato asked with increasing worry, the other Tamers reacted to, where Calumon's ears drooped and his expression turned gloomy.

'That's not why it took her.' The Dark Queen stated in Kari's mind, causing her to scoff a little, getting everyone's attention as they saw the brunette's face turned into a frown, realizing her 'guest' was talking to her.

'Then why did A.R.E.S. take her?' Kari asked mentally, wanting to know what her counterpart wasn't telling her.

'Remember, I was able to awaken the coding of the D-Reaper from my Jeri, making her into the... almost perfect weapon? A.R.E.S., however, will most likely try to have biomon extract it to make its own D-Reaper army.' The Dark Queen informed in reply, causing Kari's eyes to widen as she relayed what she heard to the rest of the room, frightening them even more for Jeri's safety.

Unbeknownst to Kari, however, during her conversation, Davis seemed to be focused on her intently for some reason, more so than normal.

"What is A.R.E.S. even trying to do? With the weapons at its disposal, It feels like it's stalling for some reason, instead of actively attacking or trying to invade the Earths." Thomas questioned out loud, before Hajime, who was back on the computers, turned in his chair and said. "I think I can answer that."

The young boy then typed on the computer, bringing up a grid like view of the northern regions, especially the massive pyramid that now stood there, before it turned, showing a stream of energy that looked like it was coming from the Digital World's core to the Pyramid.

"A.R.E.S. is syphoning Data from the core, using it to build its own/an army, as well as something very powerful by these readings... If we don't stop him in the next few days, the Digital World will fall apart, while A.R.E.S. will be able to travel to each Earth with his forces, with enough power to control each of the Internets on all of them." Hajime explained, where Gatchmon then added. "Where it can redo its Human Applification Project all over again."

"Then we need to get moving!" Marcus yelled, ready to head out and kick ass, but Sampson stopped him as the older DATS officer said in reply and with authority. "We will, but you are all worn out. Take a few hours to rest while we gather what we can on the enemy's defences, then we'll meet here and proceed."

"Understood, sir." Gaomon said in reply, though hating they had to wait, they knew it'd be smarter to face their enemy with all their strength instead of going ahead and with their emotions getting the better of them.

-Several minutes later-

Allowing their partners some peace, Davis and Kari sat in the room assigned to them, with Kari sitting on the bed in thought, while Davis sat in a chair nearby, looking at the small collection of information Hajime gave them on the Appmon they had seen A.R.E.S. use and who they might face.

Kari meanwhile, watched her beloved in silence, seeing the neutral but determined look on his face, with the brunette knowing that he was upset at being used against his friends, blaming himself for those taken, and was angry at himself for still having such a dark rage inside of him after all that had passed.

Before Kari could say anything, however, she saw her dark counterpart materialize once again out of the corner of her eyes, the shadowy version of the Dark Queen roaming the room, passing through books as though they were nothing, knowing that only Kari could see her.

"I really liked that side to Davis. I never knew he could be so wild." the Dark Kari said with a smirk as she moved towards Davis, as though standing by his side as she looked down at him, admiring his being, which caused Kari to scowl.

'What is wrong with you?! Davis has tried for years to show everyone that he has put the past behind him, and then this happens! Now he's feeling like he did all that work for nothing!' Kari yelled mentally at her counterpart, who smirked back.

"He shouldn't have had to try at all. They should have realized from the start just how wonderful he is. Instead they mocked him and abused him. I think it's perfect that he finally snapped at them." The Dark Queen replied, seeing the scowl on her counterpart's face grow.

"And don't try and defend yourself, you are just as at fault to blame for how you treated him. Everytime he tried to show you some love, you played with his heart. If he didn't love you for whatever reason, I bet he would've let you have it as well." The Dark Queen then added as she moved her right hand, as though to caress Davis' cheek, before...

"I love her because she is kind, caring, and willing to make up for her past, while you appear to be stuck in it." Davis informed as he turned and looked as though he looked the Dark Queen in the eyes, causing her to freeze as she looked back at Davis, where she and Kari realized what was going on as the younger brunette asked. "You can see her?"

"I can see her. I can also hear her." Davis confirmed as he continued to start at this dark mirror of his Kari, who then smiled as she then placed her hand on his cheek, as though happy that her love could see her, not caring as Davis kept glaring at her.

"Then you should know just how much more loving I am to her, how devoted I can be to you, how there is nothing I wouldn't do for you. Anything you want, I would gladly do for you." The Dark Kari said with a lacy purr in her voice as she slid her hand down Davis' face and along his chest, testing her luck as she continued to go lower and lower.

"Back away from him!" Kari snapped, causing her counterpart to look at her with a smirk, doing as asked, but not moving back too far.

"I have to wonder, are you really Kari Kamiya anymore or has the darkness inside you erased all that?" Davis asked seriously, noticing the Dark Queen's smirk turn into a frown.

"So he told you both about that? Did he mention how his kind have toyed with our lives across time and space for their little game? How they knew how important you were and just let you die? No, I refuse to be their puppet, to let them continue to ruin our lives, to tear apart our love. If that means undoing their work than so be it, I would rather us rule in the dark and be free than be puppets in the light." The Dark Queen snapped, her anger getting the better of her as she thought of the Beings of Light and how they tore her Davis out of her life.

"You think the Dark Ones' care? They're using you as well!" Kari said back to her counterpart, who glared at her and said back. "At least they are honest about it!"

"Kari, please..." Davis started to say, but both him and his Kari were cut off as the Dark Queen held her hand out.

"I know words won't convince either of you... but you will see, in the end, the Darkness is the answer. In the end, you'll see that I am right, the light you depend on will fail you, and then we'll be together." The Dark Kari said, before fading, leaving both Digidestined alone in the room as Kari slumped back onto the bed, tears running down her cheeks as she thought of how twisted her dark counterpart was, how twisted she could have become, where Davis sat next to her and enveloped her in a comforting embrace, one she willingly accepted.

Rubbing her back gently, Davis assured. "Kari, whatever happens, you mustn't listen to her. She is not who you are or what you are meant to be. I do feel sorry for her, for all the pain she has gone through, but she made the choice to embrace the darkness inside of her, you still have a say in what path you take in your destiny."

"And whatever you choose, I'll be there with you every step of the way." Davis then said, slowly moving back as to gently run his hand along Kari's cheeks, wiping away her tears and looking at her with a continued love and sincerity, a devotion to the brunette that would never die, which brought a small smile to Kari's face, feeling better to just sit and be with the man she loved.

Within her, however, seeing out of her counterpart's eyes, the Dark Queen thought with a dark and sinister smile. 'Soon, he'll be looking at me with that love... and together, we'll remake this universe in our image!'

-Meanwhile-

Back in A.R.E.S' base, having designed rooms to accommodate the attributes, abilities and skills of the Appmon under his command, Beautymon, Biomon and Fakemon were all planning for their eventual battle with the Appli Drivers and their new friends.

However, though she was keen on destruction, Beautymon seemed more interested in making sure that her new puppets were better suited for the fight, not only having Palmon and Lalamon Digivolve to Lillymon and Lilamon, but she was doing all she could to make them look as beautiful as she believed she looked, cupping Lillymon's chin as she ran a shade of pink lipstick along her lips.

"There we go. Now you look much more beautiful." Beautymon said, admiring her work, only to give a grin as she stated. "But remember that none of you are as beautiful as me."

Smiling as the Digimon nodded mindlessly to her words, Beautymon then turned her attention over to Mimi, preparing to change the entranced Digidestined of Sincerity out of her current and worn attire and into something more fitting, having a wide selection of clothing she was looking forward to seeing her puppet show off for her.

"What are you doing, Beautymon?!" A voice called out as she turned and looked at the door, seeing a familiar Appmon had just walked in, a being that was cast in gray coloured armour, where eyeballs with black sclera adorned the chestplate, ran down the sides of the Appmon's armour and were even set upon the set of wing-like structures that formed out of his shoulders.

And like the rest, the mark of A.R.E.S. was present on the figure, only it was glowing in all the eyes on his being.

"Charismon, what are you doing here? Can't you see you're ruining this girl's makeover?" Beautymon questioned with some irritance in her voice.

"You are supposed to be preparing them for the battle ahead. Lord A.R.E.S. will not tolerate failure again!" The most faithful of Leviathan's former generals said in anger, looking at the other two female humans Beautymon had yet to touch, seeing Nene and Yoshi staring ahead with vacant expressions.

"Don't worry. After I'm done with my new friends, there won't be a single guy who could resist them." Beautymon replied confidently, returning her attention to Mimi as she slid Mimi's arms up, removing her top and sliding a princess dress in its place, before Beautymon's hand then clenched tightly, her to grit her teeth and say with spite. "But if anybody dares ruin all the effort I put in making them look beautiful, I will crush them personally!"

Charismon growled at the infuriating nature of his fellow Appmon, before he walked out, teleporting to another part of the pyramid, where he entered Biomon's lab, seeing the girl, Jeri lying on a metal slab as she looked up at the ceiling blankly, while Guilmon was in a giant glass tube as red energy coursed into his being, causing Guilmon to snarl every so often, but the mind control kept him at bay.

"Progress?" Charismon asked, causing Biomon to nod, not bothering to face away from his test subject, for he was too involved in his research.

"The Digimon is almost ready to change into the form Lord A.R.E.S. requires, and I will soon be ready to remove the D-Reaper's code from this girl's DNA, regardless of the cost to the young girl herself." Biomon replied with glee, just as the tube Guilmon was in began to glow with an intense bright red light, fading a second later to show that the red dino Digimon had Digivolved into his corrupted Mega form, Megidramon.

But unlike the first time, Megidramon remained in place, remaining under Charismon's hold, to destroy when commanded.

"Oh, he looks like the partying type!" Fakemon said with a light laugh/chuckle as he appeared out of nowhere, looking all over the tubed Digimon, before looking around as he asked. "Where are the other three?"

"Defending the central core. None must stop Lord A.R.E.S.' plan." Charismon stated, before asking. "And the Appli Driver?"

"Don't worry, he and I are going to have so much fun!" Fakemon replied with an insane laugh, causing Charismon to nod in reply.

"Very well then. We need to prepare, they will be coming soon and Lord A.R.E.S.' ultimate weapons are nearly finished. We will have our revenge on the Appli Drivers and their new allies, then all will fall before Lord A.R.E.S.' might!" The Mind Control Appmon stated, ready to have his revenge against Globemon and his partner.

-Later-

Resting as best they could, the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers all returned to the command room, seeing satellite images of the Pyramid, the legions of combat drones, as well as swarms of Virusmon around it.

"Ok... I think they're expecting us." Kazu said, stating the obvious as the group looked worriedly at A.R.E.S.' army.

"This won't be easy. Even if we brought the entire DPF with us, we'll still be heavily outnumbered. Not to mention then having to fight whatever A.R.E.S. has waiting for us." Thomas commented as he looked over the information, trying to figure out how they could beat or get past that army.

'I can help.' the Dark Queen casually stated in Kari's mind, but she and Davis ignored her as the others continued to talk.

Thinking carefully and trying to come up with a way to overpower A.R.E.S' forces, Mikey then suggested. "We could try a three wave attack. While Shoutmon and I keep the main forces busy, an aerial force and a second ground force could attack from the sides."

"We'll still have the Virusmon to deal with, not to mention if you guys are overpowered or the A-Virus infects you." Christpoher pointed out, not wanting to have to fight and enraged shoutmon in the process.

'I said I can help, let me talk to them.' The Dark Queen then said with a little more frustration, but Kari continued to ignore her, wanting to see if their friends can come up with something before resorting to drastic measures.

"I say we just fight on though." Marcus said, clenching his fist and declaring. "Let's show this creep our might when we fight as one!"

"Marcus, you aren't thinking clearly. If we just rush on in, we'll get outnumbered." Keenan said, trying to calm the older boy down, knowing how much Yoshi's capture was affecting him.

"And despite your strength, even you have your limits." Kudamon added, frustrating Marcus, namely because he knew they were right.

'You let me talk to them or I'll take over by force!' The Dark Queen then yelled in anger, causing Kari to let out a defeated sigh, getting everyone's attention as she looked to Davis, seeing the worry in his eyes, but knowing that they had no other option, nodded in reply.

"She says she can help." Kari then said to the others, before closing her eyes, where a dark aura surrounded her, causing the Digimon to go on the defensive as the Dark Queen's armour formed around Kari's being, where her eyes opened, revealing the red hue as she smirked wickedly.

"That's better." the Dark Queen said, rolling Kari's neck as though working out a knot, before looking at the rest, who weren't too happy to see her.

"As powerful as you are, I doubt that A.R.E.S. won't expect you to show up, especially after last time. And you don't have an army anymore to help fight." Thomas said as he narrowed his eyes, not sure what the corrupted counterpart of Kari had in mind.

"Actually, I do." The Dark Queen said with a smirk as she turned and walked towards a more open space in the room, shocking and surprising the other as they tried to figure out what she meant, before she brought her right hand up, where a black energy symbol than appeared on the ground, before something emerged out of it, looking like a black ghost with its back turned to everyone, most shocked by what they were seeing, while Matt, who secretly was still afraid of ghosts, shook a little, freezing up in fear.

"**Who dares summon the harbinger of doom? The eternal servant of death? The...**" The ghost started to say as it turned, its arms raised as they all started to see its red glowing eyes, before it seemed to deflate as it saw Kari and said with panic. "**Oh crap it's you, what do you want?**"

"Tell your Master that I'm calling in his debt." The Dark Queen replied with a smirk, causing the shadow to let out a whining sound, which caused everyone else in the room to sweatdrop as the spirit said. "**He's going to kill me for that!**"

"You're already dead." The Dark Kari deadpanned, where the being yelled in reply. "**You know what I mean!**"

"**Fine, but after this I don't ever want to see you again!**" The Ghost yelled, before vanishing back into the circle, which faded away.

Turning back to the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers, seeing the fear and worry in their faces, especially Davis, the Dark Queen asked with a grin. "Shall we begin then?"


	8. Chapter 8

Around the Pyramid, A.R.E.S.' army continued to keep watch, before the army went on high alert as they detected something approaching the perimeter, causing the drones and Virusmon to go on alert, with their Master watching through their eyes as a single being approached, the Dark Queen smirking as she saw the A.I.'s minions focus on her.

"**Kari Kamiya... Dark Queen... We have common enemies... common goals... we need not be enemies...**" A.R.E.S' voice boomed across the area as he spoke to the Dark Kari, who could not help but laugh out loud.

"Ally with you? You're a relic of a failed world, a worthless A.I. that was taken down by children. Working with you is beneath me." The Dark Queen said with a wicked smirk.

"**I am more than I ever was... You may have power... But it will not help you against me... you have no army to challenge me...**" A.R.E.S. then stated, though its scanners registered the growing smirk on Kari's face, adding confusion to its thought processes.

"I have an army, this army..." The Dark Queen said with a sadistic tone as she brought her hands up, where an army of spectral creatures appeared behind her, charging forward with shrieks and cries as they charged at the drones and Virusmon, who opened fire at the specters, only for their weapons to go right through their enemies, while the ghosts' weapons cut through their metal skin like butter.

'Where the hell did you find these guys?!' Kari screamed at her counterpart in her mind, fear and terror filling her as she saw this deathly army charging around her, where the Dark Queen smirked and replied. "Believe me, you don't want to know, just know that, for the moment, they obey what I command of them, and right now I command them to bring A.R.E.S.' army to its knees."

From a ridgeline nearby, the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers were watching the scene in horror, where, within the form of Omnimon Alter-S, Tai said to Matt, sensing his fear. "Dude, calm down will you?"

"You calm down! I can sense your fear too you know!" Matt yelled in reply, fear sweeping him as he saw what looked like a ghost dragon fly through the Virusmon, tearing them apart as more spirits joined in, thinning their numbers greatly and giving the heroes the opening they need.

"Alright guys, let's do our part and bring A.R.E.S. down!" SaviourVeedramon called in a determined voice, getting nods from the others as they took off for the opening.

"Looks like my part is done, have fun." The Dark Queen said with a smirk, before releasing her hold as her armour dissolved around Kari, where the brunette took a second to get her bearing as she was given back control of her body.

"Kari!" The Digidestined of Light then heard as she looked to see SaviourVeedramon, with Gatomon on his shoulder coming down, with the Digimon of Light jumping down and nodded to her partner, who took out her D-3.

"I'm alright, Gatomon." Kari assured, gaining a determined expression as she said. "Now let's show what the light can do."

Nodding to Kari's words, Gatomon focused herself, allowing her being and her power to become one with Kari, causing Kari's D-3 to shine with light as the pair became one, taking the Digidestined and Digimon of Light out of place and replacing the pair with a single entity, who emerged from the light and called her name, announcing in a mighty voice to the sides of good and evil. "Lightbringer Ophanimon!"

Looking and nodding at SaviourVeedramon, the two Biomerged Digimon quickly joined the others as they made their way through the gap in the Virusmon swarm, approaching the Pyramid, before their eyes widened to see four familiar figures waiting for them outside the structure, EmperorGreymon, ZekeGreymon, Justimon and, much to the horror of the Tamers, Megidramon, all standing by what looked like an entrance to the Pyramid, where all saw the four held blank looks on their faces.

"Guilmon?!" Takato asked in fear, afraid of what A.R.E.S. had done to his partner, fearing not only Megidramon, but the destructive power such a Digimon possessed.

"We'll keep them busy, you guys find this Charismon and take him down, then save the others." MagnaGarurumon said as he, OmniShoutmon, MegaGargomon and Omnimon charged at their brainwashed friends, who lept up to meet them head on, causing the eight Digimon to clash in the air as the others made their way into A.R.E.S.' Pyramid.

"Be careful!" Davis called out through SaviourVeedramon as he and the others entered the base, finding it not well lit, causing the group to take cautions and walk close together, while Izzy looked on his laptop to see if he could find anything to help them.

Getting a lock on Mimi's Digivice signal, along with Yoshi and Nene's, Izzy said to the group. "Most of the girls are down this hall to the left, while I'm getting Jeri's signal a few floors below us. Looks like some kind of lab."

"Finally. I'm getting a massive energy signal close to the center of this place. It's most likely the core." Izzy finished, with Marcus, his Agumon, Tentomon, Tagiru, Gumdramon, Mervamon and Sparrowmon looking ready to join the redhead and go save the girls.

"Alright, you guys go save them, Some of you go with Takato and save Jeri, and the rest of us will head for the core. Charismon is most likely guarding it." Davis said, getting nods from everyone, except for Eri and Musimon.

"But what about Astora?" Musimon asked, expressing obvious concern for his partner, before, much to everyone's surprise, the floor beneath Eri, Dokamon and the music Appmon opened up, sending the three into a black abyss before any of the others could react.

"Eri!" Haru called in concern at seeing the young idol taken away from them, emotions Gatchmon and the other Appli Drivers shared, with Onmon banging at the ground, trying to break it open, but to no avail.

"Now Eri is gone." Offmon said, drooping his head at the loss of more of their friends, before feeling comfort as Gatchmon gently rubbed his back.

"Eri is one of toughest humans I know. Whatever comes her way, I know she can handle it." The search Appmon said with confidence, causing Offmon to give a small smile in reply, trusting Gatchmon's words.

"We'll keep an eye out for them, but for now, we have to move. Go, and be careful. They know we're here." Davis said as the group split up, with Izzy, Tentomon, Marcus, his Agumon, Tagiru, Gumdramon, Mervamon and Sparrowmon going to save the girls, leaving Takato, Sakuyamon, Rei, Hackmon, Hajime, Onmon, Thomas, Gaomon, Falcomon, Keenan, Beetlemon, Kumamon, Joe and Gomamon to find and face off against Biomon and save Jeri, while the rest went down to find the core and end A.R.E.S' threat once and for all.

-Meanwhile-

Groaning as she could hear her name being called over and over, Eri slowly rose from her stomach, rubbing the side of her head as she took in her sights, finding that as her sight cleared, not only were the forms of Dokamon and Musimon glad to see her, but looking around, Eri found that she and the Appmon were now within a giant room, looking like a mansion, only Eri wasn't too keen on the decor.

"Where are we?" She asked, taking in the imagery of the mansion, seeing broken statues, pictures of her and her friends layered upon the walls, only arrow darts were sticking out of the faces, while a long stairway was at the opposite end of the room and led up to nothing, leaving the young idol to comment. "I don't know what's worse, the clear spite against us or the tackiness of whoever owns this place."

"The unique style. The emotions. The detail..." Musimon began to say, before bringing his hands down and declaring with a drab tone. "So not Groovy."

But with him just saying it, Musimon didn't feel the groove without Astora's approval or disapproval.

Feeling empathy for the music Appmon, Eri knelt before Musimon, looking at him with a clear caring in her eyes.

"Musimon, I know how down you are, but we'll get Astora back, I promise." Eri said as she placed her right hand on Musimon's shoulder, comforting the music Appmon a little.

"And until then, you can be my second partner." Eri offered, rising back to her feet, striking Astora's pose and declaring. "We'll be the grooviest team ever!"

"Eri's the Grooviest!" Dokamon declared, getting into the spirit as he too performed Astora's pose, causing Musimon to grin, feeling better to have such encouraging friends in his life.

However, the atmosphere for Musimon and the others changed as they all heard a sinister chuckling, turning to see at the very top of the stairway was Fakemon, where the Camouflage Appmon was leaning against the railing with crossed arms.

"So good to see you all again." Fakemon said as he began to head down the stairs, reaching the bottom, where he took in the hostile glares of Eri, Dokamon and Musimon.

"I welcome you three to my new home, and to your ends." He added with a bow, continuing to get on the App Drivers nerves, to the point Musimon snapped and yelled. "Stop with your games and tell us where Astora is!"

From Musimon's demand, Fakemon merely stared at him, tapping his chin for a moment.

"Astora? Astora?" He asked, continuing to mock and anger Musimon, Eri and Dokamon, before changing the mood of the App Driver and the Appmon as he snapped his fingers, causing a light to shine down upon a darkened section of Fakemon's domain, horrifying the group to see Astora, seeing the blond in an unconscious state as he lay tied up on the floor.

"Astora, you friends have come for you, so wakey wakey." Fakemon said, seeming to trigger something in the Apptuber as he gave a groan and slowly opened his eyes, showing the haze within them, which faded as they fully opened.

"Eri...?" Astora groaned as he took in the sight of the young idol, seemingly confused as to what had happened and where he was, which increased as he noticed the position he was in and began struggling against the ropes that bound his being.

"What's going on!? This is so not Groovy!" He called in obvious panic, continuing to heighten the concern for Astora's friends.

"Astora!" Musimon called as he began to rush over, only to find Fakemon jump in front of him, shaking his finger as he cut in.

"Not so fast, buddy. We still have a score to settle, so the only way you're getting your friend back is if you defeat me." Fakemon said, his words causing Musimon to glare at the camouflage Appmon and say. "No problem. I defeated you last time, I can do it again."

"Really? But how are you going to do anything with your partner all tied up at the moment?" Fakemon asked back, chuckling at his own joke and the despair he set within Musimon's heart, leaving Musimon downcast as he set his arms down and said with a gloom filled voice. "So not Groovy."

"Hold up, Musimon." He and Fakemon heard Eri call, both turning to see the pink haired girl standing confidently upon Dokamon's hands, her App Drive Duo drawn as she proclaimed. "Remember that you are my partner for the time being, and together, we'll Big Bang Punch Fakemon and all of his tricks until we have Astora back!"

At Eri's confidence and her sincerity, Musimon's eyes lit up, feeling his hope returning to him, before nodding and rushing back to Eri's side, knowing that though he couldn't become Entermon for the time being, trusting Eri and her strength, Musimon knew he could be an invaluable ally for her.

Looking at Eri and watching as Musimon remained standing before her, followed by Dokamon as he set his partner down, Fakemon chuckled.

"So a two on one match?" He asked, giving off a dark aura as he said. "Sounds like fun, but first, some rules."

Waving his hand around the section where Astora was tied up, Eri, Dokamon and Musimon saw the checked patterns on the floor all light up, each displaying a skull image with a jester hat upon them, before seeing the light showing Astora's bound form expand, placing absolute fear into the trio as they saw what looked like a giant and mechanical version of Fakemon standing beside the Apptuber, its arm hovering above and looking ready to swat down and crush the captive at any second.

"For this fight, you fight me, which means Astora is off bounds. So if any of you try and rescue him, my little toy will crush him like a bug before you can reach him." Fakemon said, allowing Eri and the Appmon to figure out that the skull boards were sensors that would trigger Fakemon's machine and eliminate Astora.

"And to make things a little more fun, how about we put a time limit on this game?" The camouflage Appmon asked, gesturing back to his mechanical Fakemon counterpart and showing that within its other hand dangled a clock, showing a ten minute timer, putting more pressure upon Eri, Dokamon and Musimon.

"Guys!" Astora then called, shaking against the ropes as he told them. "Forget about me. You have to stop A.R.E.S.!"

"Will you shut up, you dummy! We're going to save you and that's final!" Eri shouted, refusing to leave the boy that had wormed his way into her heart to his demise, showing her devotion, her loyalty and her love to Astora as she brought her App Drive Duo up and withdrew Oujamon's chip, set it within her device and called with might. "Explosive Insertion!"

With her call, Dokamon's being was broken down into data and absorbed into Eri's App Drive Duo, where the young idol pressed her thumb upon her App Drive Duo and transferred her energy within the device, where a great and powerful light shot out from the device as Dokamon emerged as his Ultimate form.

"Oujamon!" He called with might, feeling Eri's power flowing through him.

At the sight of Oujamon, determination filled Musimon, where he turned to look at Eri and said. "Eri? Let me in this fight. I know that I mightn't be as tough without Astora, but we're a team, right?"

"Right." Eri replied with a confident smile, using her App Drive Duo to call back Musimon within her device, where a copy of his chip was created, before drawing out Coachmon's chip and resting it in her hand.

"Coach, I request your help in this battle." Eri said with absolute respect to the one who had trained her, looking at Coachmon's chip as she asked. "Will you share you mighty power with Musimon?"

"You bet! Our power and teamwork will make us unstoppable!" Coachmon's chip called eagerly in reply as it shook in Eri's hand, causing her to smile and set Coachmon's chip within her App Drive Duo, alongside Musimon.

"Then it's time. App Link!" Eri announced, sharing her power again as she slammed her thumb on the App Drive Duo, causing a secondary light to shoot from the device, where Musimon appeared beside Oujamon, while the red spirit-like form of Coachmon remained behind Musimon.

Feeling Eri and Coachmon's power, Musimon looked over his shoulder, at his new friend and asked. "Are you ready to feel the Groove?"

"Let's go for it!" Coachmon replied eagerly, taking a liking to Musimon's enthusiasm and became one with the music Appmon, allowing Musimon all of his power and altering his form, changing Musimon in terms of power and in physical appearance.

Losing his own style of clothing, Musimon was fitted with a yellow tracksuit that had black stripes running down the garment, where he posed at the change of attire, before bringing his ear-like arms up and allowing a copy of Coachmon's club to materialize within, grabbing the weapon tightly.

And completing his App Link with Coachmon, red shades appeared over Musimon's eyes, leaving him grinning, not only at the power he could feel, but the trust from Eri and Coachmon that came with it, the sight leaving Eri and Astora in awe, before both grinned.

"Now Musimon, show Fakemon what you can do!" Eri called with a smile and command in her tone, causing Musimon to keep up his smile as he complied, where he leapt at Fakemon and slammed his club into his face, slamming Fakemon down from the force of his new power.

"The pain... I can't go on..." Fakemon groaned, looking as though he was having difficulty getting back up, boosting Musimon's confidence, only to take it away as Fakemon's being changed to a set of tied balloons, which then burst, revealing to be a decoy, catching Musimon off guard and stunning Eri and Oujamon.

Searching for the real Fakemon, a chill ran up Musimon's spine as he saw a shadow cover him, turning to see Fakemon behind and about to strike him down as four daggers came out from his back, attached to cables concealed behind his cloak.

About to send his daggers forward and slice through Musimon, Fakemon's attack was halted as Oujamon shot in, bringing one fist back, throwing it forward and into Fakemon's side, causing the camouflage Appmon to slide along the ground from the force of Oujamon's raw power.

Though Fakemon was now sprawled on the floor a fair distance from them, Oujamon had to ask. "You ok, Musimon?"

"I'm fine." Musimon replied, glaring at their enemy and stating. "But we have a long way to go before we defeat the real Fakemon."

Looking at the damaged form of Fakemon, Musimon and Oujamon saw the attacker was another balloon decoy, bursting as it was unable to maintain its Fakemon form any longer, leaving the Appmon on edge as to where Fakemon would strike next.

Sensing something coming at him from the right side, Oujamon then quickly ducked as Fakemon came at his with a fist, where he moved and punched the jester-like Appmon in the stomach, only for Fakemon's body to turn into another decoy and break apart.

Musimon then quickly swung his club to the left, smacking what he thought was Fakemon as he came at him in the chest, only for it to be revealed as another decoy as more and more copies of Fakemon came at them, each proving to be a decoy, and all the while, the timer above Astora was continuing to count down.

Even as Musimon and Oujamon continued to fight off copy after copy, one instance, Fakemon seemed to target Eri as he appeared by her side.

"Eri! Behind you!" Astora called in warning, causing the pink haired girl to turn and react, slamming her fist right into Fakemon's face, where he too was revealed to be a decoy as he burst before Eri.

"That might have been a fake, but it felt just as good to hit." Eri commented, clenching her right hand into a fist and slamming it against her left palm, ready to take on anymore tricks Fakemon threw at her.

With Musimon and Oujamon continuing to pummel the Fakemon that threw themselves at them, seeing the timer running down and no end to their decoy deploying enemy, Eri's fists began to shake as concern and frustration consumed her.

"C'mon, you coward, get out here and face us!" Eri yelled, raising her fist and adding. "If you don't show that ugly face of yours' then I'll just Big Bang Punch this whole mansion to bits!"

Seeming to react to Eri's demands, the Fakemon remaining all popped away, before all saw atop his mechanical construction was what they hoped was the real Fakemon.

"You have fought well." Fakemon commented, looking down at Musimon and adding. "Even without Astora, you are more interesting than I imagined."

"But now the time for fun and games is over!" Fakemon then said, spreading his arms out and gazing upward as he called. "Lord A.R.E.S., grant me your power. Give me what I need to see these fools lose all hope and fall into despair!"

Remaining with his gaze upward, from the mansion's roof, a dark red light shot down, enveloping Fakemon, causing him to laugh madly as red sparks cackled around his body, before Fakemon brought his arms to his chest and flexed them out, releasing a stream of dark energy through the area, forcing Eri, Oujamon and Musimon to all shield their eyes from the force of the power.

'Oh no, don't tell me this is like the L-Code again! They were so powerful the last time we fought them with it. But who knows what they're capable of now?' Eri thought in concern, remembering the Ultimate Four destroying Dokamon and the others before, as well as Charismon's strength the second time they fought him.

Keeping up their guard as A.R.E.S' energy filled though the area, Eri and the Appmon could only hear Fakemon's mad laughter fill their ears, before finding the intensity of the energy dying down, allowing the trio to see Fakemon standing several feet from them, red sparks still crackled around his form before fading, putting Eri, Oujamon and Musimon on their guards, though Musimon felt something different to this Fakemon.

Continuing their fight and attacking what he hoped was not another balloon decoy, Oujamon rushed at Fakemon.

"Golden Fang!" He yelled, setting his fists ablaze as he took a swing at Fakemon, only for Fakemon to counter the attack as he jumped over Oujamon, before quickly moving down slamming his feet into Oujamon's back, damaging the Battle Appmon as he was knocked to the floor, while pushing forward to attack Musimon, swinging around as he stole Musimon's club and used it to smack Musimon aside.

At seeing Oujamon and Musimon's distress, Eri called their names in concern, finding Oujamon was more annoyed than injured, while Musimon had seen better days.

Groaning as he pulled himself up, ignoring the clear injuries he had sustained, Musimon glared at Fakemon.

"So you're actually starting to get serious?" Musimon asked, expecting Fakemon to mock and tease him, but felt some confusion as Fakemon responded by tossing the club aside, taking a more battle ready stance, clenching his hands and looking ready to continue in their battle.

"Fine. If you won't speak, then just listen to this. Music Hour!" Musimon then bellowed, releasing four streams of multi-colored energy from all of his arms, casting out four attacks in one.

Fakemon, reacting to the attack, shifted his body downward, avoiding the first two blasts, before leaping as the second struck near his feet, getting a clear line of sight on Musimon as he drew a series of daggers.

But having his back, Fakemon had to stop his attack as he sensed Oujamon coming at him from behind, bringing his arms up to defend as best he could as Oujamon's fist made contact with his being, knocking Fakemon back to the ground, where he showed his grace and quickly recovered his composure, landing on his hands and backflipping to his feet.

And though the attack had hit him, there was some confusion as Fakemon remained in place.

He didn't substitute himself with another decoy, nor did he remark to the attack.

All he did was remain in his more focused state for battle.

Confused by Fakemon's actions and the change in his attitude, Oujamon and Musimon began to wonder if this was due to A.R.E.S' power, while Eri had a question on her mind.

'Wait a second. Why aren't his daggers attached to the cables like before?' She thought as she saw the daggers in Fakemon's hands, remembering how he fought before, recalling the cowardice he displayed as he kept the blades attached to cables as to allow distance between him and his enemies, but now Fakemon's fighting style had seemingly changed completely.

While Eri and Musimon began to sense something off about their opponent, Oujamon continued to give it his all, going all out as he threw a series of punches at Fakemon, but grew annoyed as the camouflage Appmon not only avoided each punch, but swung from his hands to avoid damage.

"Will you hold still?!" Oujamon let out, feeling his patience being tested, before going all out as he threw all four fists at Fakemon.

And though they just missed striking him, the impact of Oujamon's power knocked Fakemon down, damaging him as he fell to the ground, where a cloud of dust filled the area from Oujamon's attack, obstructing everyone's view.

"Eri!" Musimon suddenly called as he rushed over to the young idol, who was hiding behind one of the broken statues, where the music Appmon then said. "Something's not right here. Fakemon is acting weird... or weirder, even for him."

Nodding to Musimon's words, Eri spoke her mind. "I know what you mean, Musimon. Ever since A.R.E.S' power, Fakemon has been acting like a different Appmon. It's as though to him this fight is an actual fight and not some big joke anymore."

The two were in thought for a moment, wondering why Fakemon was so different, why he was acting as a fighter opposed to a comedian any longer, before the pair felt as though they were being watched.

Looking up at the broken statue, Eri and Musimon saw Fakemon on top of it, bent down as though he was listening in on their conversation, causing both to freak out, before Eri acted on her instinct and delivered a powerful right hook to Fakemon's face, not only knocking him off of the statue's remains, but actually managing to leave a growing crack upon his mask.

At Eri's strength, Musimon was left in a state of awe for a moment, knowing not to ever make her mad or startle her, before he refocused and quickly jumped atop the statue himself, staring down at Fakemon as he rose up from his stomach, where small flakes of his mask began to crack and break off.

Turning to face them, Eri was left curious to see Fakemon's face, while Musimon was wondering what could be hidden behind the mask, knowing the truth of Fakemon's appearance.

Watching as the mask continued to crack, Fakemon allowed his mask to fall from his face, the revealing sight horrifying Eri and the Appmon.

"No... It can't be..." Musimon said, shaking his head in denial and refusing to accept what he was looking at.

Similar feelings fell upon Eri and Oujamon, of dread and disbelief as they saw that without his mask, Fakemon was Astora, only he held the continued empty gaze of Charismon's mind control upon his face, staring at the others with no emotion.

Stepping back out of fear to see the Apptuber had been turned against them and was fighting them this whole time, Eri refused to believe what she was looking at, stating with denial in her voice. "This has to be another of Fakemon's tricks. He... he just looks like Astora to throw us off is all."

But the emotions Eri, Oujamon and Musimon were feeling turned to dread as they heard Fakemon's laugh echo through the area, drawing their attention upward, where the three saw another Fakemon hanging from the roof, his daggers extending from his cape embedded within the roof surface, keeping him locked in place.

"Oh, this turned out even greater than I had imagined." He stated with a chuckle, retracting his daggers and jumping down, landing beside Astora, where he commented with a chuckle. "You did such a great job being me, you almost had me fooled."

Remaining in her state of denial, Eri said. "There's no way that's Astora. He would never do your dirty work."

"Hate to burst your bubble, but this is the real Astora." Fakemon said in reply, swinging an arm around the blond, before telling Eri and the others. "After your friend was brought to me, I thought what was the best way to use him, then it hit me, why have him just fight for me when he can fight as me?"

"But what about him?" Oujamon questioned, gesturing to the bound form of Astora, who seemed shocked at what was occuring.

"Him?" Fakemon asked back, looking over at the secondary Apptuber and stating. "He means nothing to me now."

As if reacting to Fakemon's words, the mechanical Fakemon's arm then shot down, causing the restrained Astora to let out a panic filled cry, before Eri, Musimon and Oujamon were left horrified, looking to see that from the crushed remains, the Astora that had been tied up was a fake, revealing he too was just another balloon decoy, to which Fakemon then said. "I learnt from my mistakes with you and studied Astora's personality, replicating it perfectly."

Horrified to know they had been attacking Astora, trying to eliminate him, Eri was unsure what to do.

"Tora, listen to me. Whatever Charismon told you, you have to fight back!" Eri called, almost tearing up as she yelled. "C'mon, you dummy, snap out of it! or else I'll... I'll have to Big Bang Punch Charismon's voice out of your head..."

"Sorry, but Astora only listens to me now. Anything you say is replaced by Charismon's influencial voice." Fakemon cut in, sliding his hands upon the brainwashed Apptuber's shoulders, setting his head on Astora's right shoulder and informing. "Astora is my puppet and I am the puppeteer. And right now, Astora is being told to do exactly what I tell him to do."

At the sight of Astora being used against them and what Fakemon had said, uncertainty continued to fill Eri and the Appmon.

The sight of such confliction continued to amuse Fakemon as he moved away from his puppet and said with a laugh. "I told you Lord A.R.E.S. would make you lose hope and fall into despair, I just never said how."

"Groovy? Not Groovy? So Groovy!" He mocked, even performing Astora's pose as he laughed at the set up.

"But as much fun as it is to see you three suffering, I want that pain to continue, so 'Fakemon', continue in your duties for Lord A.R.E.S. and destroy them!" Fakemon ordered as his tone turned dark, looking on with a continued twisted joy as Astora nodded, drawing a dagger and doing as he was commanded, where he rushed at Musimon without a second's thought.

"Astora!" Musimon cried out, unable to bring himself to fighting against his best friend, thoughts Astora obviously didn't share as he moved in, closing in on Musimon and tried to jab his dagger into the music Appmon.

From the sight at seeing friends turned against each other, Fakemon sat back and enjoyed the show, watching from one of the fractured pillars, continuing to laugh at all the chaos and despair he had wrought with his twisted actions.

And even though Astora was his friend, having to protect Eri from harm, Oujamon tried his hand against the influenced blond as he rejoined the fight, throwing a few punches at Astora, but limited his strength, trying to just knock the boy out so they could focus on Fakemon.

Swinging his upper arms, Astora swept under, avoiding the attack, but found Oujamon had planned his attack, using his secondary arms to grab hold and restrain the blond.

"Astora... stop fighting and listen to us..." Oujamon groaned as he did his best to keep Astora from attacking. "We are not your enemies... A.R.E.S. is messing with your head..."

Though Oujamon tried to reason with Astora, the manipulated Apptuber continued to follow his mislead commands, managing to slide a balloon bomb from down his sleeve and throw it to the floor, where the blast not only knocked Oujamon back, but allowed Astora to break free, where he stood before Oujamon and Musimon, registering the commands that now replaced his own thoughts and free will as he prepared to strike the Appmon down.

However, Astora came to a halt, confusing Fakemon and concerning Oujamon and Musimon deeply as they saw Eri rush in, ignoring every rational thought she had in her mind as she wrapped her arms around he mindless blond tightly, holding him close to her, allowing herself to express her feelings as she began to cry.

"Astora, I know Fakemon says you cannot hear me, but I refuse to believe that. There's something inside of my heart that's telling me there is the real you, that behind this mask Fakemon is making you wear, the old you is trying to fight back, trying to let his friends back into his heart." Eri said through her tears, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around Astora's being, ignoring the fact the blond slid a dagger out from his right sleeve and grasped it within his hand and could strike her down any second.

"You can cry all you like for you boyfriend, but he serves Lord A.R.E.S. now." Fakemon called, waving his hand and commanding. "Finish this pathetic girl off!"

Expecting absolute compliance, expecting to see Astora break away from Eri and end her life, confusion fell upon Fakemon as he saw Astora remaining in place, his hands trembling as Eri remained by his side.

Along his confusion, Fakemon showed impatience as he yelled. "Didn't you hear me? I said finish her!"

"Tora..." Eri said softly, keeping her arms around the blond as she moved her head off of his chest and looked into his eyes. "You don't have to do what Charismon's voice is telling you, you are your own person. Deep down, you know you are Torajiro Asuka, the famous Apptuber, the funny, caring, brave and somewhat troublesome boy that I care for so much. You are the same Tora that I fell for... that I fell in love with..."

"I love you, you big dummy..." Eri added with a sweet smile, before closing the gap between their lips as she kissed Astora deeply, ignoring the obvious stunned states Fakemon, Musimon and Oujamon were expressing during the midst of a battle, focusing solely on her feelings for Astora and nothing else.

Overcoming his initial shock to see the young idol kiss his puppet, Fakemon got to his feet and yelled. "Alright, that's enough! I told you to eliminate her, so do it already!"

Hearing Fakemon's call, Astora gripped the handle of the dagger tightly and suddenly broke from his sudden kiss with Eri, looking at her with a continued emptiness in his eyes.

"Eri!" Oujamon called in panic, expecting that Charismon's mind control was too strong and that Astora would finally give into Fakemon's command and end Eri's life.

However, all, save for Eri, were caught by another surprise as Astora swung around and threw the dagger at Fakemon, managing to land a clean hit in his left shoulder, causing the camouflage Appmon to all but scream at the pain from the unforeseen attack.

Removing the blade from out of his arm, Fakemon was in shock.

"Impossible! You should be obeying me. Nobody should be able to resist Charismon's power!" Fakemon proclaimed in disbelief, looking at Astora to see that though the haze remained in his eyes, his free will was starting to return.

"Eri was right... I don't have to do what you tell me... I don't have to follow A.R.E.S' orders... I make my own choices, and I choose my friends..." Astora said back, causing Fakemon to flinch at Astora's rebellion, while Eri, Musimon and Oujamon smiled, telling the old Astora was back.

"Fine..." Fakemon said with a bitterness in his voice, clenching his fists to have lost his puppet fighter, infuriated that the bonds Astora shared with those he cared for had broken Charismon's hold over him.

"Then suffer Lord A.R.E.S' wrath for your betrayal!" The camouflage Appmon yelled, stretching his arms out, before a dark red light circled around Astora, causing him to cry in agony as red sparks of electricity surged around him.

"Lord A.R.E.S., take away the power you bestowed upon this brat and give it to me!" Fakemon called, getting what he desired as the red energies that filled Astora shot out from his being and struck Fakemon, not only leaving him laughing insanely as the power consumed him, but with A.R.E.S' power stripped from him, Astora collapsed to the ground, falling to his chest, where the Fakemon costume he was wearing faded into red particles, leaving him back in his usual attire.

"Astora!" Eri yelled as she ran to him, kneeling down as she moved him so that his head was resting on her lap as she checked to see that he was alright, where she saw his eyes open slightly as he gave her a weak smile.

"Thanks for helping me remember who I am, Eri..." Astora said, smiling as his eyes began to close, before he added weakly. "You're the Grooviest..."

Looking down at Astora with a continued smile, Eri gently brushed the hair away from his face, before hearing Fakemon's wicked laughter again.

"I can feel it! Lord A.R.E.S' power is incredible. Now I can finish what that fool couldn't!" He declared, extending the daggers from his back and looked ready to tear everything that dared stand before him to bits.

But even with Fakemon's surge of power, Eri remained calm as she rose once again, expressing pure determination upon her face as she held out her App Drive Duo, before holding up another chip, surprising Fakemon to see it was the chip containing Entermon's data.

Looking at Musimon, Eri smiled as she asked. "Ready to give Fakemon some payback for Astora?"

His attention turned back to Eri, Musimon gave a matching grin, brought up his right arm, giving a thumbs up and saying. "So ready!"

Glad to see Musimon back in the fighting spirit, Eri slid Entermon's chip in her App Drive Duo, while Musimon prepared himself as he disengaged his Applink with Coachmon, where the training Appmon gave his own smile, sensing the burning passion Eri and Musimon were sharing, before watching alongside Oujamon as the young idol initiated Musimon's transformation.

"Explosive Insertion!" Eri let out once again, pressing her thumb upon her App Drive Duo, pushing her limits as she gave what power she could to Musimon, causing Musimon to revert into a stream of energy that was then drawn within Eri's App Drive Duo, before emerging seconds later and showing Musimon now standing proudly in his Ultimate form.

"Entermon's here to put an end to your evil, Fakemon!" Entermon announced with an enthusiastic and determined voice, wanting to see Fakemon pay for what he had done to Astora.

Enraged to see the Appmon who defeated him once before, Fakemon let out a cry of rage and insanity as he brought his blades up, rushing at Entermon to finish him off, only for Oujamon to jump next to Entermon, both ready to finish the camouflage Appmon off once and for all.

"Golden Fang!" Oujamon bellowed, casting all four of his fists in golden flames that he then threw, casting off the energy as a giant lion's head.

"Porte Melos!" Entermon followed up, releasing an onslaught of streams of multi-coloured energy from the speakers around his back as both attacks collided with Fakemon, consuming him as he let out a pain filled cry, his body beginning to disintegrate as his last words were. "Ok... this time it hurts... No fake..."

With Fakemon now gone, not even leaving his Appmon chip behind, Entermon and Oujamon landed around Eri, where the pink haired girl brought the unconscious form of Astora up, resting one of his arms around her neck as she held him up, before she looked at the Appmon and stated. "We need to find the others and help them. A.R.E.S. will probably have more traps waiting for them."

Nodding, Oujamon helped by taking Astora in his lower hands and carrying the boy, where the two Appmon then chased after Eri, knowing that while Fakemon was gone, their true enemy was still waiting for them, and that though it seemed as though they had obtained another victory, A.R.E.S. always planned ahead.


	9. Chapter 9

As Eri, Oujamon and Entermon finished their fight with Fakemon, saving Astora in the process, Izzy, Tentomon, Marucs, Agumon, Tagiru, Gumdramon, Mervamon and Sparrowmon were racing down the hallway towards the signals of Mimi, Yoshi and Nene's Digivices, with the three men in the group determined to save those they cared about from whatever plans A.R.E.S. had for them.

Exiting the hallways of A.R.E.S' base, the team found themselves in a gigantic room of exceptional taste and beauty, noticing that amongst the stone pillars that spread through the area, each were wrapped with white and black roses, in the centre of the room, there was a fountain, only in the middle of the fountain, there was a giant statue of Beautymon, her sceptre rose and spraying a torrent of water into the fountain, leaving many thinking the same thing.

'Is her image all she thinks about?' Marcus, Agumon Tagiru and Mervamon thought with sweat drops, before they all heard a sinister laugh, causing them all to turn to their left, where their eyes widened to not only see Beautymon standing before them, but also Raffalismon, Rosemon: BM, as well as Yoshi and Nene, both with what looked like swords in their hands.

But what really caught their eyes were the outfits Yoshi and Nene were wearing, finding that the girls had been stripped , not only of their minds, but of their clothing, where the pair were both now cast in white gowns, which covered their chests as a layer of fabric ran up their right sleeve, but showed off a fair amount of their cleavage.

Their wrists and ankles were set with golden bracelets and anklets, leaving a white flowing dress that just covered their legs.

Upon their feet, each were wearing silver high heeled footwear and resting atop their heads were a set of tiaras, each embedded with decorative onyx gems, the sight of the outfits causing Marcus and Tagiru to blush a little.

"Oh, how nice of you all to join us. My new friends and I were hoping you'd come by for some fun." Beautymon said with a sinister smirk, causing the group to focus on her as they glared at the beauty Appmon.

"Let them go... or we'll make you wish you never met us." Izzy said in a threatening tone, one that caused even the other heroes to gulp lightly, having never heard the redhead sound so aggressive before.

Izzy, you are the Digidestined of Knowledge, not Anger, so please don't do that again." Tentomon said, only to then let out a sudden outburst himself, his body cackling with wild and unstable streams of electricity as the insect Digimon bellowed. "Now release Palmon and Mimi from your control before I shock you into submission!"

From Tentomon's outburst, the others were taken by surprise, Mervamon whispering with some worry. "I never knew a Digimon like Tentomon could ever lose his temper like this."

"Such fire, such passion." Beautymon said with a smile, only to turn it into a grin as she moved over to Raffalismon and commented. "Too bad it's wasted on these two and not on a beauty like me."

"Compared to you, Mimi is the embodiment of true beauty." Izzy declared, speaking from his heart, which didn't abide well with Beautymon.

"You take that back! Nobody is more beautiful than me!" She snapped, gritting her teeth as she tried to hold back her pent up rage.

"You are shallow, not beautiful. You devote yourself to your appearance and not your heart." Marcus said back, speaking what he was feeling as he looked upon Yoshi and added. "Yoshi is beautiful, not only because of her outer beauty, but what makes up her personality. She is determined, smart, caring and strong. You have none of those qualities."

"And Nene is really something. She has dozens of fans who love her for how she brings joy to them with her music and acting." Tagiru followed up as he too expressed what was in his heart.

"How many fans do you have?" Gumdramon asked, going deeper and following up. "Actually, how many friends do you even have, none. It's because you are a selfish and spoilt person who nobody would ever love, even if you paid them."

At this point, Beautymon was seething with rage, where she turned to her puppet and yelled in anger. "Enough of your lies! Raffalismon, kill them!"

"Ballet Gun..." Raffalismon declared as she brought both her arms upward, revealing the weapons hidden in her sleeves and opened fire, causing the Digi-heroes to spread as Izzy, Tagiru and Marcus took out their Digivices and initiated their respective forms of Digivolution.

Harnessing the power of his Digivice, Izzy used his strength to Digivolve Tentomon to his Mega Level, where the insect Digimon announced as he changed form.

"Tentomon Warp Digivolve to... HerculesKabuterimon!" He announced, Digivolving from his small Rookie frame and into the gigantic golden beetle that was HerculesKabuterimon.

"Charge! D.N.A. Burst Mode!" Marcus yelled, gathering an amber hue of energy around his left hand that he then slammed onto his Digivice, causing a similar light to engulf Agumon, feeling Marcus' strength as he was consumed by the power and changed form as the aura was set ablaze, before bursting from the inferno and coming out as his mightiest of forms.

"ShineGreymon: Burst Mode!" He bellowed, drawing out the burning energies that were his shield and sword, ready to fight.

With HerculesKabuterimon and ShineGreymon: BM ready to fight, looking over at Gumdramon, Tagiru nodded, ready to Digivolve his partner.

But as Tagiru drew his Fusion Loader, Sparrowmon flew over, hovering before the brunette, where she requested. "Tagiru, allow me to join you in this fight. We all are fighting for the same goal, to save Nene from A.R.E.S.' hold over her, so why don't we do it together?"

Understanding the emotions Sparrowmon was feeling, Tagiru nodded as he then gave off a big grin and prepared himself to see what Sparrowmon could do.

"Digi-Fuse!" The Superstar announced, focusing his energy upon Gumdramon and Sparrowmon, where Gumdramon then Digivolved to Arresterdramon, setting himself as the key/main component to their Digi-Fusion and continued in their fusion.

"Arresterdramon!"

"Sparrowmon! Ready!"

"Digi-Fuse!" Both Digimon called as one, where Sparrowmon's being broke into Data, allowing Arresterdramon to absorb the Data and for it to become one with his form, where Sparrowmon's figure appeared upon his left arm, turning her into a cannon-like weapon, her wings to spread out from Arresterdramon's back and for a shining white helmet to appear upon his head.

And with the two Digimon fused once again, Arresterdramon let his name known as he announced. "SonicArresterdramon!"

With the three Digimon powered up, HerculesKabuterimon took command.

"We'll handle Raffalismon and Rosemon, you two take Beautymon down!" He instructed, speaking for himself and ShineGreymon, before he looked at SonicArresterdramon and Mervamon, who nodded in reply as they eyed the beauty Appmon, ready to bring her down quickly.

However, at the sight of her new enemies, Beautymon remained in her state of rage, where she ordered her other mindless slaves. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

Reacting to the voice they had to obey, Raffalismon and Rosemon: BM shot out from behind Beautymon and towards HerculesKabuterimon and ShineGreymon, who tried to grab the girls, only for them to use their smaller frames to their advantage, dodging their hands as they delivered swift kicks to the pair's backs.

"For such petite Digimon, they do pack a punch." ShineGreymon commented with a small groan.

"Focus!" Marcus called to the Digimon, concern filling him to the wellbeing of their allies as he added. "Remember, you two are fighting to save our friends!"

The auburn haired man then got a taste of his own medicine as he quickly ducked, his head nearly getting chopped off as Yoshi swung the sword in her hand at him, before going on the offensive, causing Marcus to dodge as the entranced DATS officer attacked him.

"Yoshi! Just stop and listen to me! Fight back! Fight back and think for yourself!" Marcus yelled, knowing he could get in a few hits, but he just couldn't bring himself to lay a hand on Yoshi, especially since it wasn't her fault she was in such a state of attack.

Tagiru, meanwhile, was in a similar situation as he kept ducking and moving out of the way as Nene swung her sword at him, a blank look on her face as she attacked her boyfriend.

"C'mon, Nene, I know you are stronger than this. If you can hear me, just give me a reply, anything." Tagiru begged, before Nene reacted as she brought up her right foot and kicked Tagiru in the chest, staring down at the Superstar with a continued distance , where she then said. "My Mistress, the most beautiful of all Appmon, humans and Digimon, told me to kill... I must obey her..."

"Ok... not the reply I was looking for..." Tagiru said with a groan, a little glad Nene was reacting to his voice, similar to when Mizuki was brainwashed by Dragomon.

But Tagiru knew that an Appmon designed for the pure purpose of mind control would be even tougher to dispel from Nene's mind, while having to keep his mind focused as he quickly rolled out of the way as Nene brought her sword down, impaling the ground where the Superstar's head was a second ago.

While the boys remained in combat with their brainwashed allies, SonicArresterdramon and Mervamon had gone to confront Beautymon, where Mervamon drew her blade, holding it toward the beauty Appmon and declaring. "Your reign of evil is over! No matter what happens to me, I will see to it that Nene and her friends are no longer slaves to A.R.E.S.!"

"As if I'd lose to someone as hideous as you!" Beautymon yelled as she drew her weapon, pointing it at Mervamon as she called out. "Rosa Phoenix!"

Pink energy then formed at the end of Beautymon's weapon, before firing out at Mervamon, taking the form of a phoenix as it shot towards the amazoness Digimon, who quickly dodged it, while SonicArresterdramon moved in to strike.

"Laser Cannon Blast!" He yelled, harnessing Sparrowmon's electrical power and casting it out from the cannon construct mounted upon his arm, striking into Beautymon's attack and causing a stalemate of power between the duo.

With Beautymon seemingly distracted as she held back SonicArrestermon's attack, Mervamon shot in, her blade ready to slice the beauty Appmon to bits.

However, Beautymon countered by raising her weapon, blocking the blow from Mervamon's blade, pushing her back, before the beauty Appmon dodged a swing from SonicArresterdramon, showing the two Digimon that she was faster than she appeared.

"She's stronger than I expected." Mervamon commented, having underestimated her opponent, but resuming her fighting stance, she made sure not to repeat her mistake.

"We need to find a way to take her down. The girls are counting on us." SonicArresterdramon said as he moved next to Mervamon, both ready to attack their enemy once more and break the spell over Nene and the others.

As SonicArresterdramon and Mervamon tried their hand in close combat, rushing at Beautymon, finding her gracefully blocking each attack with her sceptre, outside of A.R.E.S' base, those left to fight EmperorGreymon, ZekeGreymon, Justimon and Magidramon were having troubles of their own.

Splitting into groups as to face their brainwashed friends, MagnaGarurumon was up against EmperorGreymon, OmniShoutmon had chosen ZekeGreymon as the one he would fight and save, fighting to save his friends, MegaGargomon had taken on Justimon, leaving Omnimon Alter-S to face the fearsome and terrible might that was Megidramon.

"Damn it, Takuya, snap out of it!" MagnaGarurumon yelled as he switched to melee, casting off his more bulky of armour for the time being and charged at EmperorGreymon, who blocked the Warrior of Light's punches with his fists.

Telling that even with Takuya being controlled, the Warrior of Flame was as powerful as ever, forcing Koji to quickly back off and try another technique to weaken down his opponent, trying to use his great speed to his advantage as he tried to strike the controlled Warrior of Flame from different angles, only for EmperorGreymon to counter each time.

And even with his speed, MagnaGarurumon found EmperorGreymon was able to retaliate.

"Pyro Dragons..." The entranced Warrior of Flame declared as he slammed his sword into the ground, causing nine flaming dragon heads to emerge from out of the ground and rush towards MagnaGarurumon, who did his best to dodge the attacks, but found that the last stream of flame managed to catch up with him, slamming right into his chest and dealing a great pain to his body.

Collapsing after the strike, MagnaGarurumon groaned, rubbing his chest and looking at the scorch mark left by Takuya's attack, before glaring ahead to see the brainwashed brunette approaching him, his sword drawn and ready to continue their fight.

'And Zoe wants me to go easy on him.' Koji thought as he remembered said blonde practically threatening him before they left to no hurt Takuya too much.

While MagnaGarurumon found that even though he was holding back, EmperorGreymon remained relentless, having no restrictions on him, OmniShoutmon gave a mighty cry as he clashed against ZekeGreymon, slamming his mic into the cyborg Digimon, but found ZekeGreymon counter, using tail to block the attack.

"Come on, snap out of it! Don't let this Charismon creep get the better of you!" OmniShoutmon cried out, before he was pushed back, looking to see ZekeGreymon preparing to attack, only he was now looking at Mikey and Christopher, who both stood their ground as they saw the mind controlled Digimon prepare to strike at them.

"Victorize Banking!" OmniShoutmon cried out as he gathered energy within the V crest on his head, charged forward as he slammed himself into ZekeGreymon, causing him to stagger as he fired his attack, destroying several of A.R.E.S.' remaining drones, before the brainwashed Digimon turned back to his opponent and continued their battle.

Just like MagnaGarurmon and OmniShoutmon, MegaGargomon was having troubles against Justimon.

Even though he knew what Justimon was capable of, knowing his fighting techniques from observing previous battles, with Charismon's voice influencing him, it made Justimon's attacks less predictable and continued to force MegaGargomon to change his battle strategies.

'Gezz. Will this guy find a fighting style he likes and will stick to already?' Terriermon groaned within MegaGargomon, finding his frustration growing as everytime it looked as though they had him, Justimon would throw them off.

'Try and calm down, Terriermon, something tells me this is what A.R.E.S. wants.' Henry said back to Terriermon, believing through Justimon, A.R.E.S. was trying to throw the pair off and cause conflict within, allowing a more clear chance to take down its enemies, leaving Henry to add. 'If Justimon continued to change the way he fights, we'll just have to think outside the box ourselves.'

Nearby, Omnimon was moving around, dodging Megidramon as he acted like a wild beast, trying to strike the Digimon of Courage and Friendship down with his claws, tail and teeth, where the fused Digimon did his best not to get caught in his rampage.

"**You...**" A voice said behind Omnimon, causing him to turn and see the same specter they saw the Dark Queen speak to at the DPF behind them, its hand on his shoulder, the cold feeling causing Matt to almost freak out within the fused form, with Tai, Agumon and Gabumon not far behind him.

"**Tell the Dark Queen we have fulfilled our bargain.**" The specter said, causing Omnimon to actually look around, seeing that, aside from their brainwashed friends, there were none of A.R.E.S. forces remaining, save the broken shells of some drones, causing Omnimon to say in a shaky voice. "Um... thanks."

"**Just make sure we don't hear from her again, dealing with our world's version of her and her lover is enough already.**" The specter replied before vanishing, leaving Omnimon standing for a second with wide eyes as those who made his form realized what the ghost had said, that in his world, there was another Davis and another Kari as well.

'Ok, that's still weird to hear, even with all of this.' Gabumon said, but none of the others could comment as they had to deal with Megidramon once more, who launched his Megido Flame attack at the fused Digimon, causing him to jump out of the way to avoid the onslaught of dark flames.

-Back inside-

From her position, though she remained fighting against SonicArresterdramon and Mervamon, finding the pair starting to work as a team in order to try and catch her off guard, Beautymon gave a devious smile as she took in the sights of her mindless servants continuing to dominate in their battles.

"Looking very good, girls. Keep it up." Beautymon called encoringly, finding the sight of her pretty slaves continuing to thrash their supposed friends, while looking good doing it.

However, just as Raffalismon and Rosemon: BM shot into the air, both ready to unleash their ranged attacks, while Yoshi and Nene rose their swords, ready to strike Marcus and Tagiru down, all four stopped, their eyes blinking as they returned to normal.

"What... what's going on?" Raffalismon asked in confusion as she and Rosemon looked around.

"Why are we here?" Yoshi then asked, before she and Nene realized their change in clothing, where the brunette idol then let out. "And what are we wearing?!"

Confused at the sight, Beautymon could only look in awe, confusion filling her to see the girls thinking for themselves again.

"What's going on?!" The beauty Appmon cried out at seeing her puppets somehow freed from Charismon's brainwashing, before looking to see Izzy smirking at her as he held his laptop opened.

"It took a bit, I'll admit, but after finding the signal Charismon uses to control people, I created a protective bubble around this room, preventing it from coming in. In other words, the girls are free from Charismon's influence, and you're in major trouble." The Digidestined of Knowledge said with a smirk as the freed girls, as well as HerculesKabuterimon, ShineGreymon: BM, SonicArresterdramon and Mervamon all looked at the beauty Appmon with threatening looks, causing her to back up as she started to feel a mix of anger and fear.

"Now that we're free, I think it's time we paid you back for your actions." Yoshi declared as she turned her blade toward Beautymon, ready to take a page from Marcus' book and let the Appmon have it.

"No, No! I won't be beaten!" Beautymon cried out as she began to glow with a red aura, gathering the energy A.R.E.S. had given her as she prepared to attack, only for her foes to act first.

"Mega Electroshocker!"

"Corona Blaze Sword!"

"Jewel of Heart!"

"Ballet Gun!"

"Wing Spiral Shredder!"

"Final Strike Roll!"

The attacks all slammed into Beautymon, who screamed in pain as she dissolved into Data, leaving nothing behind, causing the group to cheer as Yoshi and Nene dropped their swords, before each hugged Marcus and Tagiru respectively, causing both to blush, but to then hug the girls back nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Raffalismon landed in front of Izzy as she broke her biomerge, where Izzy gained a puzzled look for a second, before Mimi quickly gave him a hug.

"Izzy, thank you for saving us... I... I'm so sorry I tried to hurt you...I..." Mimi let out, feeling it was her fault that she had caused such pain, but felt comfort as Izzy wrapped his arms around her a little tighter, resting his head on the crook of her shoulder as he said in her ear. "There's no need to apologize, Mimi, you weren't in control of your actions."

"And even if you had some control over yourself, you know I could never hold a grudge towards the girl I love, my wife." Izzy went on, moving back and looking at Mimi with a caring and loving expression, melting Mimi's heart and causing her to smile back, feeling the same emotions within Izzy's heart.

As the pair slowly broke from their embrace, a surprised look graced Izzy's face, leaving Mimi a little confused.

"What is it?" She asked, rubbing her lips as she questioned. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Um..." Izzy could just say nervously as he pointed down, causing the Digidestined of Sincerity to look down, before letting out a shriek to see herself dressed like a princess, finding the outfit to be awful in her view of style, leaving Mimi frantically looking around for her old outfit, before crying out. "What in the world am I wearing!?"

"We'll explain everything later. Right now we need to help the others." Marcus replied, ready to go, only to stop as Izzy held his hand out.

"We can't. The barrier I made only works in this room." Izzy informed, shocking the others as Yoshi asked with concern for herself and the others. "So if we leave we'll wind up all as A.R.E.S' servants again?"

"We're afraid so." Tentomon said in reply, his words causing a solemn expression to grace Palmon's face, where the Digimon of Sincerity felt as though she was weighing her friends down.

"Until I see Charismon's signal disappear, we have no other choice. Marcus, Tagiru, you guys and your partners go ahead and help the others, Tentomon and I will stay with the girls." Izzy said, staying by Mimi's side as to give her further emotional support, to let her know that he would be there for her.

"Alright, we'll be back." Tagiru said, holding Nene's hand reassuringly, something Marcus mimicked as he comforted Yoshi, before he added. "You can count on us."

Smiling at Marcus' trusting expression, his words and knowing that he would always come through, Yoshi smiled and nodded in reply, before reacting to her feelings as she caught Marcus off guard and kissed him right on the lips.

At seeing Yoshi allow her love to take over, Nene also acted on her feelings, giving Tagiru a fair warning as she placed her hand on his cheek, before giving him a kiss as well, one he gladly returned, unable to blush deeply and to close his eyes as he felt the warmth of Nene's lips, having dreamt of kissing the young idol in the past, but this felt greater than anything he could dream up.

Breaking their kisses, the girls all watched on as Marcus, Tagiru and their partners headed off, leaving Mervamon and Sparrowmon with Izzy, Tentomon and the girls, all praying that they could stop Charismon and end A.R.E.S.' threat.

And being Mimi, she hoped it would be soon, so she could get changed and find an outfit more her style.

-Meanwhile-

Heading for the other end of the base, Takato, Sakuyamon, Rei, Hackmon, Hajime, Onmon, Thomas, Gaomon, Falcomon, Keenan, Beetlemon, Kumamon, Joe and Gomamon all rushed towards the signal of Jeri's D-Power, with Sakuyamon blasting the metal door to the chamber open, revealing the large laboratory where, much to their horror, the group saw Jeri lying mindlessly on some kind of machine, one that resembled an enclosed table encased in glass, with wires placed on her body, while nearby, Biomon had turned to face them with what looked like a scalpel in his hands.

"Rei! Hajime! Back for another check up?" He asked with a dark tone as he extended not only the scalpel from his right hand, but he extended the needle-like fingers of his left hand, freaking many of the Digi-heroes out.

"Sorry but we're not here for a check up." Gomamon said back, moving before Joe as he prepared to fight, similar actions occurring with Sakuyamon, Beetlemon, Kumamon, Falcomon, Gaomon, Onmon and Hackmon.

"Now get out of our way before we dispose of you." Hackmon said, bringing up his left claw and allowing all the wires, probes and cables to extend from within, the action causing Biomon to freak out a little at the memory of Hackmon's tools continuing to torment him.

But shaking his head, Biomon gave a dark chuckle.

"Things are different to our last battle, Hackmon." He declared as he looked over at the blank form of Jeri, where the life Appmon then announced. "Now, thanks to this lovely young lady and all the secrets within her DNA, I have some help of my own this time!"

Biomon then snapped his fingers, where, out of the darker corners of the room, dozens of red eyes began to glow, shocking Sakuyamon and Takato as they saw a whole range of D-Reaper Agents, only these brands of Reaper Agents were without their cables and taking away their weakness.

Angered at what Biomon had been using Jeri for, Takato yelled. "You used Jeri for this!? You will pay!"

"Such anger, no wonder your partner had such a rage inside of him, a rage I was able to exploit." Biomon said with a mocking tone, continuing to anger Takato, the brunette clenching his fists tightly at the words and imagining the horrible things Biomon could've done to Jeri and Guilmon.

But feeling a hand on his shoulder, Takato turned, looking to see Rei staring at him with a seriousness in his eyes.

"Don't let Biomon get to you, that is exactly what he wants." Rei said, understanding Takato's pain as he looked upon Hajime, recalling Biomon using the same mental games against him, where Takato let out a deep sigh as he tried to relax, before Hajime stepped before Takato, drawing his App Drive Duo and saying. "Takato, let us handle Biomon. You do what you can to free Jeri."

As Takato nodded, checking on the status of his friend, Joe, Thomas and Keenan all stepped forward, drawing their respective Digivices as they prepared to face Biomon.

"Gomamon, are you ready?" Joe asked, which caused a confident grin to appear on Gomamon's face as he said in reply. "You bet. Now let's show this quack what a real doctor can do."

Smiling to Gomamon's words and the continued enthusiasm and trust within them, Joe's Digivice reacted to their bond, casting out a stream of pure light upon Gomamon, enveloping his being and altering his form, where the silhouette form of the tiny sea beast changed to a gigantic walrus-like creature.

And through its Digivolution, the Digimon of Reliability bellowed. "Gomamon, Warp Digivolve to... Vikemon!"

Following up in the line of Digivolution, Keenan and Thomas looked upon their partners, where Falcomon said. "I'm ready when you are."

"Always on duty, sir!" Gaomon added with a continued respect toward Thomas, who nodded back, before he and Keenan focused themselves and prepared for battle.

"Charge! D.N.A. Burst Mode!" The pair called simultaneously, each drawing out their power as an aura of pure data formed around their left hands, a chilling blue for Thomas and a dark purple for Keenan, which the pair then brought down upon their Digivices, transferring that energy to their partners, where Gaomon and Falcomon reached their Burst Modes with a mighty call.

"MirageGaogamon: Burst Mode!"

"Ravemon: Burst Mode!"

Already at her top form, Sakuyamon also got ready to fight as she drew her spear, before looking behind her as Beetlemon and Kumamon both were covered in cocoons of Data.

"Slide Evolution!" The Warriors of Thunder and Ice called from within, harnessing the power of their Beast Spirits and changing to their larger and more powerful forms.

"MetalKabuterimon!"

"Korikakumon!"

Finally, Rei and Hajime withdrew the Appmon Chips of Revivemon and Bootmon, recalling Hackmon and Onmon as the brothers prepared to change their partners into their Ultimate Forms.

Each letting out their emotions with a powerful cry, Rei and Hajime slammed their thumbs onto the bottoms of their respective App Drive Duos, giving their power into their partners, where the siblings released a powerful stream of light that was their Appmon partner, causing the Ultimate Grade Appmon to emerge.

"Revivemon!" The dragon-like Appmon let out with a great roar, showing its power and its terror with its arrival.

"Bootmon!" Bootmon announced, though his tone was more determined when compared to Revivemon, throwing a few punches to show he was as ready as ever.

"We'll take care of Biomon, you guys deal with these reapers." Revivemon then said to the Digimon, who nodded in reply, before Sakuyamon looked at Takato, Thomas, Keenan, Rei, Hajime and Joe, where she took the lead and commanded. "We'll keep them busy. You just focus on getting Jeri out of there!"

With each human, Digimon and Appmon assigned to a key task in thwarting A.R.E.S' plans, they all split up, with Revivemon charging at Biomon, who brought his arms up to block the impact as he was pushed back, with Bootmon following behind his fellow Appmon as the Digimon all lunged at the D-Reaper Agents.

"MirageGaogamon, initiate formation beta one!" Thomas commanded, using the strategic codes he had made with Gaomon to keep their fighting techniques a secret from their enemies.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" MirageGaogamon BM said in reply, dispelling his sickle of light and using his fists, going in head first as he bombarded the Reaper Agents that came into his line of sight.

"Lightning Thrust!" Ravemon: BM then called, not only showing his teamwork, but also his power as he lunged forward and pieced his claws through some of the Reaper Agents MirageGaogamon: BM had missed.

As the DATS Digimon remained working as one, so too did the Legendary Warriors, using their unique skills and powers to take on and defeat the Reaper army.

"Frozen Arrowheads!" Korikakumon let out, throwing his the locks of his braided hair at a swarm of Reaper Agents known as Bubbles, some meeting their ends as the speared tips of the braids pierced through their beings, while the others found themselves bound by the Warrior of Ice.

"Nice one, Tommy." MetalKabuterimon commented at seeing the defeated Reaper Agents break into red ooze, while those that had survived were locked in the line of fire with the Warrior of Thunder as a large one, known as a Horn Striker, began to charge past them towards JP.

"But let's see how they like this! Electron Cannon!" The Warrior of Thunder bellowed, releasing a great stream of thunder-like energy from the cannon mounted upon his head, enveloping the Horn Striker and causing it to fade away from existence as it was consumed by MetalKabuteirmon's power.

"Arctic Blizzard!" Vikemon called out as he fought a line of Reaper Agents solo, raising a wall of ice before him, blocking the attacks of several Pendulum Feet brand Reapers, before slamming his morningstar right through the ice, shattering the ice to bits and causing the shards to shoot forward, impaling through the line of Reapers.

And though he knew Vikemon didn't need encouragement, Joe couldn't help but smile and call. "Keep up the good work, Vikemon."

"These guys aren't so..." Vikemon started to say, only to let out a surprised yelp as he felt something wrap around him, looking to see a Creepy Hands attempt to wrap itself around the larger Mega Digimon.

"Spirit Strike!" Sakuyamon called out as she stepped in, saving Vikemon as she brought forth her four ever loyal fox spirits, where the four shot through and destroyed the Creepy Hands, dropping Vikemon, who let out a sigh of relief as the Shaman Digimon flew close to him.

"Don't get cocky or they'll overwhelm us." Rika stated through Sakuyamon, where the shaman Digimon remained on guard, remembering full well what the D-Reaper was capable of, but felt some relief as she saw their numbers thinning.

'It seems that without a true Reaper Mother, these Reapers are no match for us.' Renamon commented, her words causing Rika to nod and give a small smile from within Sakuyamon, before suggesting. 'Then what do you say we show these freaks what real power is?'

'Anything you say, Rika.' Renamon replied, her tone of a continued loyalty, though a smirk graced her face as she and her Tamer refocused themselves on Sakuyamon, where she swung her spear around and prepared to wipe out the oncoming wave of Reaper Agents.

As the Tamer, Legendary Warriors and the DATS Digimon continued to overpower A.R.E.S.' new army, Revivemon and Bootmon held nothing back as the pair lunged at Biomon.

"This brings back memories." Biomon said with a wicked laugh as he not only swung his body around, avoiding the attacks of Revivemon and of Bootmon, but he managed to get in several shots of his own, where the life Appmon shot his needle-like fingers out, stabbing into Revivemon and Bootmon's chests.

"Bootmon!" Hajime called in concern at seeing his partner in pain, the sight of his sibling upset causing Rei to clench his fists as he yelled. "Revivemon, show no mercy! Make Biomon suffer!"

Complying to the command, Revivemon moved back, giving himself some distance as he prepared to attack.

"Saver Strahl!" He roared with fury, casting out a stream of orange energy from the chest piece shaped like a second face, where the attack managed to collide with Biomon, sending him crashing back and smashing into an array of various medical equipment.

And with Biomon down, Bootmon joined in, paying back Biomon for nearly bringing Hajime to tears.

"Time to give you the boot, you bully! Power Boot!" Bootmon let out as he brought his hands up, his body glowing with light, where it gathered as a ball/sphere in his palms, before unleashing it in a massive blast at Biomon, who had enough sense to quickly float out of the way, while everything around where he lay was instantly incinerated, leaving a crater in its place.

"Guys, I could use some help here!" Takato suddenly called with worry, which was obvious at the situation he was positioned in, where he was left using a pipe he had found to try and open the machine Jeri was in, causing Thomas, Keenan, Rei, Hajime and Joe to run over, with Keenan and Thomas helped to try and pry the glass encasing off, leaving Joe looking in to check on Jeri.

While Hajime and Rei assisted their allies, both bringing up a set of holographic keyboards and trying to hack their way into the security's system, from his perception, the Digimon of Reliability could see no physical harm had befallen Jeri.

"From what I can see, Jeri looks alright. I can't see any cuts, needle points or incisions. He must have just scanned her to make these Reapers." Joe concluded as he looked at the brunette, relief filling Takato to know that his girlfriend hadn't suffered as he said. "Then we got to her before he could do anything worse."

And upon hearing the sound of the automated locks released, seeing Rei and Hajime's combined efforts had broken through Biomon's security systems, Takato acted quickly, pushing the door open and rushing toward his love.

"Just hold on, Jeri. I promise we'll get you out of this." Takato said, continuing to rescue Jeri as he grabbed at the restraint around her right arm, tugging at it and giving it all his might to break through the material holding Jeri down.

However, once her arm was free, everyone was taken aback as Jeri's hand reached up and wrapped itself around Takato's neck, strangling him as they remembered that she was also under Charismon's mind control.

"My services to A.R.E.S. are incomplete... I must dispose of any who interfere..." Jeri declared, her tone remaining vacant as she stared blankly at Takato, continuing to apply more pressure to Takato's throat, before Thomas and Keenan tried to help remove her hand from Takato's neck.

"Jeri, let him go..." Kennan groaned, trying to stop Jeri and her actions, not wanting to harm Jeri if things intensified in their situation.

"It's no use..." Thomas said, frustrated as he pointed out. "So long as Charismon's voice is influencing her, Jeri won't listen to reason."

Knowing he had to help the people he had come to see as new friends, acting quickly, Hajime typed fast on his keypad, before, a moment later, Jeri's eyes slammed shut and her hand went limp, leaving her lying motionless upon the stainless slab, causing Takato to let a gasp as he could breathe again, but looked at the girl he loved with concern.

"I can't block or stop Charismon's signal, but I messed with the frequency, putting Jeri to sleep until we can properly undo the effects." Hajime said with a smile, one Takato shared as he nodded his head in thanks, before he and the others continued to remove the restraints on Jeri's form.

Meanwhile, Biomon continued to avoid Revivemon and Bootmon's attacks, laughing wickedly as he believed he had the upper hand, where the life Appmon started to say. "You have no hope in winning, Lord A.R.E.S.' new army will..."

However, much to his shock and horror, Biomon quickly found himself surrounded by all the Digimon in the room, looking around to see none of the D-Reapers remaining, causing him to let out an audible gulp.

"This hasn't turned out the way I anticipated." The life Appmon commented, showing and expressing a continued fear.

"Saver Strahl!"

"Power Boot!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Spirit Strike!"

"Bolo Thunder!"

"Avalanche Axes!"

"Final Mirage Burst!"

"Crimson Formation!"

The attacks all collided with Biomon's form, causing the life Appmon to cry out as his being began to dissolve.

"Lord A.R.E.S., please... save me...!" He begged, knowing A.R.E.S. could give him the power he needed to not only survive the attacks, but to strike back with a merciless fury.

However, Biomon's red eyes widened as he sensed A.R.E.S.' presence, but could tell that he wouldn't be spared from his demise.

As Biomon fully dissolved, his chip nowhere in sight, the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers all let out a sigh of relief, while Takato held Jeri in his arms bridal style, hoping that the others could take Charismon down soon and save his girlfriend.

"Jeri..." Takato said softly, kissing her forehead and adding with a continued gentle and caring voice. "I hope everything is ok in there."

-Meanwhile-

The metal door exploded before them as Globemon, SaviourVeedramon and Lightbringer Ophanimon shot into the room, looking around as Shutmon, Phoenixmon, GrandisKuwagamon, Valkyrimon, Dominimon, Goldramon, Kazemon, Loweemon, Beelzemon: BM, Antylamon, HiAndromon, MarineAngemon, Tuwarmon and Cho-Hakkaimon came in behind them, with Haru, Yujin, Sora, Kenta, Suzie, Yuu, Airu, Jeremy and Angie behind the group as they took the room in.

It was a massive chamber, with black steel walls that had lines of glowing red all around it, while at the center was a pyramid shaped just like the outer structure, only it was glowing red, almost pulsating with energy, while four massive, oddly shaped pillars surrounded it.

But what really got everyone's attention, especially Globemon and Haru's, was the figure floating above the core, looking down at them with all his eyes as he crossed his arms.

"Charismon!" Globemon let out as he glared at Charismon, angered at all the conflicts he had caused between them and their new friends.

"Welcome to the inner sanctum. Lord A.R.E.S. and I have been waiting for you. Your end has finally come." Charismon said as he brought his right arm up, before A.R.E.S. voice filled the room. "**You will all die here... and my victory will come at last...**"

The Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers prepared themselves for the battle to come, knowing that though it would be one of the toughest and most dangerous experienced in their lives, if they failed, not only would their friends be lost, but the Digital World and the Real Worlds would also fall.


	10. Chapter 10

The Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers continued to glare at Charismon and A.R.E.S.' core, while the mind control Appmon continued to stare down at them with an air of arrogance around him.

"**Error... unable to access controls of YJ-14... Unknown firewalls in place...**" The booming voice of A.R.E.S. then said as Yujin, Haru and their partners smirked.

"That's right. Thanks to Hajime and Haru's grandfather, I have several codings of firewall installed in my new body, so you cannot use me against my friends." Yujin informed, looking over at Haru with a trusting smile, to know his friend still saw his as a person and not a machine created to follow orders.

"**Activating Core Defenders...**" A.R.E.S. then stated as the four pillars began to glow with a bright red light, where they began to warp and took shape, soon resembling Leviathan's old heads, each letting out a fearsome roar as they glared down at the heroes, while Charismon raised his arms as dozens of eye drones appeared around him.

"You will all submit to Lord A.R.E.S. or..." Charismon started to declare, before raising his arms to block as Globemon shot at him, pushing him back as the two began to clash in the air above the core, where the mind control Appmon then saw Lightbringer Ophanimon and SaviourVeedramon join in as well.

"We won't wind up puppets to you or A.R.E.S." Lightbringer Ophanimon declared, where Charismon blocked a blow from her javelin as he stated in a dark reply. "No, you're already a puppet for someone else."

Charismon then dodged as SaviourVeedramon's blade came close to his head, before swiftly kicking the knight Digimon in the chest, sending him flying back a little, before the Digimon of Miracles regained his focus and shot back as he, Globemon and Lightbringer Ophanimon began to try and strike the mind control Appmon down, who easily dodged and parried their attacks.

Meanwhile, the eye drones quickly swarmed close to the others, their eyes glowing as they prepared to open fire, only for...

"Final Shining Burst!"

"Prism!"

From the twin calls of attacks, a stream of blazing orange flames shot down, where within the inferno were dozens of energy orbs, consuming Charismon's wave of drones and completely destroying them, where the other present Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers looked to see ShineGreymon: BM, Arresterdramon, Marcus and Tagiru running towards them, while behind them, Eri, Oujamon and Entermon followed, with Astora still unconscious from his battle as he was held within the Appmon's arms.

From the interference, Charismon glared at the unwelcomed guests, before focusing and returning to his battle with Globemon and his allies, planning to crush them for good, while the Leviathan heads reacted to the intruders, each lunging out and attacking, opening their mouths as red energy gathered within, before opening fire and causing the Digimon, Appmon and humans to scatter, before the Digimon and Appmon opened fire at the Leviathan heads.

"Crimson Flare!"

"Grandis Whirlwind!"

"Feral Sword!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Fatal Flame!"

"Corona Blast!"

"Bunny Blades!"

"Atomic Ray!"

"Kahuna Waves!"

"Hurricane Wave!"

"Shadow Meteor!"

"Torrid White!"

"Prism!"

"Digi Ninja Art: Fujin's Waves!"

"Roast of the Pig!"

"Golden Fang!"

"Porte Melos!"

"Luna Impulse!"

Combining their attacks against the Leviathan heads, though the Digimon and Appmon had pushed themselves, many were in shock to see their might didn't even leave a mark upon any of the heads, who returned fire, causing them all to scatter.

"I knew A.R.E.S. would be tough, but I didn't expect this much power." Oujamon confessed, his words causing Eri to call encouragingly as she threw her fist to the air. "Just keep on fighting. I know you can do it, Oujamon.

Meanwhile, above the lasers, Charismon continued to battle Globemon, SaviourVeedramon and Lightbringer Ophanimon, with the three heroes feeling surprised as to how easily Charismon was keeping up with them.

"Ok, this guy is tougher than I thought." Davis admitted through SaviourVeedramon, where Globemon narrowed his eyes as he noticed the red aura around the mind control Appmon, causing him to then say. "A.R.E.S. is giving him power directly, so we need to be careful."

"Nothing can save you this time!" Charismon then declared as he brought up his right hand into the air, where a massive ball of dark red energy formed, resembling hundreds of red eyes, which he then threw at Globemon and SaviourVeedramon, only for Lightbringer Ophanimon to move in the way.

"Kari! Gatomon!" LightforceVeedramon called in concern, thinking that the Digimon of Light was planning to use herself as a shield, to defend Globemon and the one she loved.

"Holy Slash!" The Digimon of Light then called out as her javelin glowed brightly, where she swung the weapon in an arc formation, cutting through Charismon's attack with ease as it dissolved quickly, before she glared at the mind control Appmon, ready to continue their fight.

-Meanwhile-

With Jeri in his arms, Takato led his group down one of the corridors, trying to find the others, before they heard a familiar voice, looking to see Sparrowmon flying towards them, especially as she saw Jeri in Takato's arms.

"Takato! Follow me, Izzy made a protective zone to keep Charismon from controlling the others, so that should help remove the influence over Jeri. The others went down the other way towards the core, they need help!" Sparrowmon informed, having left Nene and the others to find the girls' normal clothing before spotting the group.

If it meant allowing Jeri her free will back, Takato nodded, where the brunette gently handed Jeri's unconscious form to Sparrowmon, before taking a spot on her back.

"Lead the way." He then said, causing Sparrowmon to nod and show her speed as she turned and shot off, heading back to the protective barrier Izzy had set up.

"While they get Jeri to safety, we'd better go help the others." Sakuyamon then said to the others as they turned and headed towards the core, the sounds of battle echoing down the hallway as they knew the others were closeby.

Once Sparrowmon was close enough to the room, Jeri began to stir in Takato's arms, causing him to look down as the brunette opened her eyes slowly, finding that the first thing that came to her sight was the caring and loving face of her boyfriend.

"Takato...?" Jeri let out, confused as to where she was and what had happened, but found she was left with a few more questions as Takato set his arms around her, holding Jeri close to his body.

"Welcome back, Jeri..." Takato said, refusing to let go of his girlfriend, continuing to express his love as he added. "I... I thought I lost you..."

While Jeri found a warmth in Takato's hug, even hugging him back, there were questions piling up that she needed to ask.

"So where are we?" Jeri questioned, looking over Takato's shoulder and at the decorated room, noticing they were not alone, where she tilted her head and followed up. "And what are you girls wearing?"

"Don't look!" The screams of Mimi and Yoshi were heard as they covered their bodies, causing Takato to look away as the two glared at him, while Nene was behind them and changing back into her original outfit.

"Um... It's a long story..." Izzy said with a nervous laugh, his back also to the girls as he feared their reprisal if he turned while they were changing.

-Back with the others-

Within the core, the battle continued to rage on, where the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers were all too happy to see the rest of those that entered the Pyramid with them arriving, letting them know the others were safe for the time being, while Charismon growled at losing connection with another of his brainwashed slaves.

"Hide them all you like, it will not matter in the end. They all belong to Lord A.R.E.S." The mind control Appmon declared, which caused many of the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers to glare at Charismon, refusing to allow him to manipulate their friends again, with Eri moving by Astora's side, keeping a close embrace over the Apptuber that had won her heart, refusing to allow him to be turned against them a second time.

"They're not your puppets, and we will bring you both down!" SaviourVeedramon yelled defiantly as his blades burst with energy, where he then announced with might. "Shining Blades!"

The knight Digimon then rushed at Charismon, who brought up his shield to block the attack, only for his eyes to widen as the blades cut right through it, causing the mind control Appmon to back up a little as the blades cut off part of his horns, angering Charismon as he felt pain course through him.

"You will pay for that." Charismon stated, planning on ensuring SaviourVeedramon suffered before his demise, only to look and see that the knight Digimon had moved above him, with Lightbringer Ophanimon and Globemon on either side of him as they all glowed with their respective forms of energy.

"No, you're the one who's going to pay, for all the harm and suffering you and A.R.E.S. have caused! This ends now!" SaviourVeedramon called out as he and those around him unleashed their attacks.

"Radiant Blast!" The Digimon of Miracles then let out, where, from his chest, he released a beam of golden light, harnessing the power over the Crest of Miracles and the power Davis and Veemon shared as one.

"Heaven's Might!" Lightbringer Ophanimon followed up, casting out several orbs of light around her form that she then combined and fired at Charismon, giving off a great cry as Kari and Gatomon as the Digidestined and Digimon of Light attacked.

"Glanz Gazer!" Globemon finished, where he cast out a powerful stream of blue light from his chest, feeling not only his own power in the attack, but he could feel Haru's spirit, giving him a further boost in power.

As the three beam attacks rushed at him, Charismon fired his own blast of dark red energy at them, while simultaneously, the Leviathan heads all turned upwards, firing their blasts as they combined with Charismon's where the two beams clashed mid air, pushing one another back and forth, with the others trying to shield their eyes from the shockwave.

However, much to Charismon's shock and horror, the two Digimon and Globemon let out even louder cries, putting everything they had into their attacks as it pushed Charismon's and A.R.E.S.' attack back, colliding with the mind control Appmon as his form slammed into A.R.E.S.' core, causing the Leviathan heads to stop momentarily, giving the others the opening they needed.

"Crimson Flare!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Grandis Whirlwind!"

"Feral Sword!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Fatal Flame!"

"Twin Blades of Beauty and Truth!"

"Corona Blast!"

"Bunny Blades!"

"Atomic Ray!"

"Kahuna Waves!"

"Hurricane Wave!"

"Shadow Meteor!"

"Avalanche Axes!"

"Bolo Thunder!"

"Torrid White!"

"Meteor Shackle!"

"Crimson Formation!"

"Prism!"

"Digi Ninja Art: Fujin's Waves!"

"Roast of the Pig!"

"Golden Fang!"

"Porte Melos!"

"Luna Impulse!"

"Saver Strahl!"

"Power Boot!"

The Digimon and Appmon let out as they each cast off their attacks, releasing all their power against A.R.E.S.' core, where Charismon's cries of rage and pain were heard, before there was a massive explosions, causing the heroes to shield their eyes as the Leviathan heads dissolved, before they looked to see the core in ruins and Charismon gone, before the entire complex began to shake, concerning many of the Digi-heroes and the Appli Drivers at the sudden outburst/rumbling.

"This place is about to collapse, we need to get out of here!" Thomas said, causing everyone to waste no time, where all rushed and head for the exit.

Meanwhile, Izzy's laptop began to beep loudly as the room began to shake, much to the girls' discomfort.

"The core's been destroyed, and it looks like Charismon's gone. We need to get out of here!" The Digidestined of Knowledge declared, where Tentomon Warp Digivolved quickly into HerculesKabuterimon and scooped everyone up into his gigantic hands.

"Can't you give me five minutes?" Mimi asked with some embarrassment, having yet to choose which top she wanted to wear and leaving her in a green coloured bra, but the insect Digimon ignored her as he and Sparrowmon quickly flew towards the exit.

Outside, meanwhile, Omnimon Alter-S was using his hands to hold Megidramon back, groaning from the stinging pain as Megidramon's maw dripped with acidic drool, burning through his armour.

MegaGargomon held Justimon in his hands, managing to finally get a hold of the cyborg Digimon, but MegaGargomon could sense the refusal to be held back within their brainwashed friends.

MagnaGarurumon was blocking a strike from EmperorGreymon's sword, leaving OmniShoutmon to hold ZekeGreymon back, trying to strike ZekeGreymon down, but only with enough power to render him immoble.

But it was then that the four brainwashed Digimon stopped moving, with Megidramon De-Digivolving, reverting back to Guilmon, collapsing in Omnimon's arms, where the Hazard Digimon looked around in confusion.

"What happened? And where's Takato?" Guilmon asked as he rubbed his head, feeling a little hazy, while EmperorGreymon backed up and looked around, before his attention fell on MagnaGarurumon, leaving the Warrior of Flame to revert back to his human form and ask. "Koji, what's going on? Why are we fighting?"

"You alright?" Henry asked through his Biomerged form, getting a nod from Justimon, while ZekeGreymon looked around confused, with Mikey and Christopher looking relieved to see their friends freed from Charismon's mind control, before being shocked as the ground beneath them began to shake.

Looking at the Pyramid's entrance, the group saw the others coming out very fast as SaviourVeedramon yelled out. "Run for it! This place is about to crumble!"

The Digimon of Miracles then picked Mikey and Christopher up as the group all ran as far as they could from the facility, just as the Pyramid exploded in a massive blast.

And after the smoke from the outburst cleared, the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers all turned to see the ruins of A.R.E.S.' base, many smiling as they believed the battle was over, only for the moment to be ruined as they heard A.R.E.S.' booming voice once again.

"**Apperialize... Deusmon...**" The A.I. said as a massive red square appeared next to the ruined pyramid, where a figure as big as a VemonMyotismon emerged from the ground, leaving the humans, Digimon, but namely those of the Appil Drivers in shock at what had come into view.

Towering over all the heroes and heroines, fear, dread and despair consumed the hearts of most of the groups at the new Appmon that had appeared.

Taking in its form, the Appmon was adorned in a dark golden armour, not only covering its entire being, but from the Appmon's back was what looked like a gigantic golden ring, with jagged spikes coming out from the ring and circling around the Appmon.

A red visor covered its eyes, while similar to BurningGreymon, a metal plating covered its mouth.

Just looking at the Appmon, all could tell that this being was one of ultimate power, which it then expressed as it rose a hand to the sky, causing countless streams of dark purple energy to come crashing down, destroying all around the Appmon.

"Ok... this guy is scary." Terriermon said through the Biomerged form, before Oujamon spoke up and added confidently. "Yeah, he's one of the toughest Appmon we ever faced, but we're tougher together, and he's all alone."

However, the group then saw another massive red square appear on the other side of the ruined Pyramid, confusing everyone, especially the Appli Drivers.

"**Apperialize... Thanatosmon...**" A.R.E.S. then declared with a continued calculated and stoic voice, where another giant Appmon appeared, only this one, while having the similar armoured look and colours of Deusmon, this Appmon had its face and head covered in a white hood, which turned into a robe that went down its body, leaving two massive gold wings what came out of it's back.

All that could be seen of this new Appmon's face were a pair of red eyes, while in its right had was a massive golden scythe.

Finally, another massive red square appeared before the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers, causing them to slowly back up, before their eyes widened as they heard A.R.E.S. speak once more as he declared. "**Apperialize... Aresmon..."**

With A.R.E.S.' call, a final Appmon appeared between the two other God Grade Appmon, expressing a great and terrible power of its own, only, taking in this Appmon's form, this one's armour was a dark red, it's armour resembling Deusmon's, but with six sword-like spikes coming out of it's back, protruding out of a massive black cape, with three spikes coming out of its helmet, a pair of glowing red eyes, and the emblem of A.R.E.S. on its chest as it brought up a pair of dark red swords in its hands.

"**Now, heroes, you will all die, and I will reshape this world and all of the human worlds into perfection.**" Aresmon declared through A.R.E.S.' voice, causing the heroes to realize that this Appmon was the A.I. in a new form, and that the battle was far from over as the three God Grade Appmon glared down at them, ready to end the heroes and all they held dear once and for all.


	11. Chapter 11

The Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers had a mix of anger, fear, and worry as they stared up at the three God Grade Appmon A.R.E.S. had created, including the A.I.'s new Avatar, Aresmon, before Globemon gained a determined look.

"Leviathan, A.R.E.S., it doesn't matter who you are, we beat you before, and we will do so again!" The Global Appmon declared.

"And with all our new friends, we cannot lose, ya dig?" Entermon added confidently, his vibe remaining of a continued cheer and confidence, which increased as he heard Astora's voice.

"I dig ya." The Apptuber said with a grin as he removed himself from Oujamon's hands and took to his feet, where he glared at A.R.E.S. and declared. "I'll make you regret messing with me and making Eri cry!"

With Astora back and ready to fight, Haru looked amongst the other Appli Drivers, then at Globemon, all nodding in reply to their leader's expression, before the six all drew their Appli Drivers, finding each displaying the same message, 'Do you want to protect your friends?'

And not needing a second to think on the question, all selected yes, which caused their App Drive Duos to shine with a great golden light.

"God Grade!" Haru, Eri, Astora, Yujin, Rei and Hajime all called as one, releasing the great power of their Appmon, astonishing the others as Globemon, Oujamon, Entermon, Revivemon were all surrounded by the same golden lights and grew, matching the sizes of A.R.E.S.' Appmon, with Shutmon and Bootmon joining in, only they fused forms and became a God Grade Appmon of their own.

"Gaiamon!"

"Poseidomon!"

"Ouranosmon!"

"Hadesmon!"

"Rebootmon!"

The Digi-heroes all stood in awe as they gazed up at the final forms of their Appmon allies, before gaining confidence themselves where, taking out his D-Power, Takato looked at Guilmon and nodded, where the pair Biomerged once again into Gallantmon, harnessing Granni's stored power and changing into his Crimson Mode as the winged knight prepared to fight.

Meanwhile, the Legendary Warriors all nodded at one another as they glowed with energy, achieving the power of Ancient Spirit Evolution and merging into one, forming Susanoomon once again as he prepared to fight, while Mimi and Palmon quickly Re-Biomerged themselves, becoming Raffalismon, who gave a graceful spin as she made her appearance, glad to be fighting, but fighting for her friends.

Last to achieve their greatest of forms, while Tagiru used the Kinkoji's power he had mastered within his Fusion Loader to allow Arresterdramon to achieve his Superior Mode, Mikey worked alongside Christopher and Nene to initiate the power that was the Great Fusion, combining OmniShoutmon and the other Digimon to bring Shoutmon X7 in the fight, where he drew his mic and prepared himself, feeling not only his strength, but he could feel the power and determination of all that had Digi-Fused with him.

With everyone at their highest forms, the Digi-heroes linked up with their Appmon allies, who charged at the enemy, with Gaiamon leading Omnimon Alter-S, SaviourVeedramon, Lightbringer Ophanimon, Gallantmon: CM, Sakuyamon, ShineGreymon: BM, Susanoomon and Shoutmon X7 against Aresmon, Rebootmon and Hadesmon leading MirageGaogamon, Justimon, HerculesKabuterimon, Raffalismon, Goldramon, Dominimon, Phoenixmon, Valkyrimon, HiAndromon, Arresterdramon and Cho-Hakkaimon against Deusmon, and Ouranosmon and Poseidomon leading Beelzemon, Antylamon, Ravemon: BM, Rosemon: BM, MegaGargomon, Tuwarmon, Vikemon, GrandisKuwagamon and MarineAngemon to bring Thanatosmon down and end this nightmare once and for all.

-Battle with Deusmon-

"You may have had an advantage over me last time, but now there are only two of you, you do not stand a chance against me!" Deusmon declared as he saw Hadesmon and Rebootmon charging at him.

"Initial Zero!" He then called as a dark purple energy gathered in his hands, which he then released as a gigantic energy orb, expecting his power to overwhelm and destroy the App monsters.

"Crimson Flare!"

"Mega Electro Shocker!"

"Ballet Gun!"

"Final Excalibur!"

From the combined powers of the Digimon, Deusmon was taken by surprise, stunned to see his attack was being repelled.

"You cannot hope to stop me!" He declared, gathering more dark energy in his hands and preparing a second attack.

But Deusmon stopped as he saw HiAndromon leap up and join in the battle.

"Copy Paste!" The Biomerged form that was Kazu and Guardromon called, bringing out his hands and casting out a ring of binary code to circle Desumon's attack, before drawing back the newly acquired data back in his being and casting off his own Initial Zero attack, striking Desumon's dark energy orb with an exact replica, not only causing Desumon's dark power to overload and burst, but it left him open to attack, where Phoenixmon, HerculesKabuterimon, Rafflisimon and Dominimon all slammed themselves into Desumon's being, sending him staggering back a few feet.

Recovering quickly from the strikes, Deusmon saw Rebootmon glaring at him from the distance.

"We're not alone. We have our friends to help us!" He declared, feeling the power Yujin, Hajime and all their friends held within him flow through his being.

"Together we will destroy you." Hadesmon added, feeling similar sensations within his being to Rebootmon's, while seeing Deusmon's destruction was more etched in his mind.

Glaring in anger at his foes, Duesmon began to glow with a bright red light as he yelled defiantly. "I won't lose to the likes of you!"

Showing his great power, two copies of the God Appmon appeared on the sides of the original, the sight shocking all but the Appli Drivers, where Airu asked with worry. "How... how did he do that?"

"That's another of Desumon's abilities." Rei spoke up, all looking at the raven haired hacker, who informed. "Desumon can create exact copies of himself to help him in battle. He used that same trick against us when we first fought him. And though there is a limit to the copies he can produce, they are just as powerful as the original."

"Such a technique must use a lot of energy." Izzy commented as he examined the three Deusmon, coming to a conclusion. "So if we continue to overpower them, then Deusmon will eventually run out of power."

"You cannot stop my power. I am omnipotent!" The original Desumon called, before all three used the power of their Initial Zero attack, devastating the area with three streams of dark purple energy, forcing the Digimon and Appmon to act fast, grabbing their human partners and making a break for it, dividing the group into three smaller sections to face the God Grade Appmon and his copies.

Divided, Hadesmon, Phoenixmon, Valkyrimon, HerculesKabuterimon and Arrestredramon: SM were left facing one of the copies, who glared at them, before laughing arrogantly and saying with a dark tone as his hands crackled with dark energy. "You are no match for me. Surrender and I will make your ends quick."

"Sorry, but a Superstar never quits!" Tagiru said back, his devoted words causing Arresterdramon to nod in agreement, to rather go down in defeat as a hero, than as a coward.

"Have it your way." Deusmon said, gathering his dark powers in his hands and bellowing. "Just remember that I showed you mercy, but your foolish ideals will lead to your ends!"

"Melan-Explode!" Hadesmon retaliated, gathering energy into his hands, forming a massive ball, before launching it at Deusmon, whose eyes widened as he remembered the attack and how devastating it was in terms of power, where Deusmon quickly braced himself as the blast hit him, causing the omnipotent Appmon to groan in pain.

"I will not allow you to overpower me...!" Deusmon groaned as he continued to repel the attack, harnessing his dark energy to destroy Hadesmon's attack in a great explosion, where the God Grade Appmon stood determined as the smoke from the blast began to clear and die down.

However, much to his surprise, Deusmon looked down to see his legs starting to be covered in ice, causing him to let out a surprised yell as he looked for the cause, seeing Valkyrimon with his sword drawn out as he passed by the God Grade Appmon's legs.

"That was just a diversion, this is your end!" The combined voices of Yolei and Hawkmon called out as Valkyrimon, along with Hadesmon, Phoeinxmon, HerculesKabuterimon and Arrestredramon: SM surrounded the omnipotent Appmon, gathering energy as they prepared to finish him off once and for all.

"Melan-Explode!"

"Laser Javelin!"

"Starlight Explosion!"

"Mega Electro Shocker!"

"Superior Prism!"

The five attacks collided with Deusmon's form, causing him to cry out as his body quickly dissolved into Data, where Rei then said. "That was just a copy."

"Then the real one is fighting against the others." Hadesmon added, his words causing Rei to nod in reply, while some concern filled him, wondering how Hajime was faring in such a fight, faring against a God Grade Appmon.

Meanwhile, Rebootmon, Justimon, Raffalismon and Dominimon were focused on their Deusmon, with Rebootmon using his bladed hand to swing at his foe, but found Deusmon caught it with his hand.

"Your power pales when compared to a true God." Desumon declared, before releasing his dark energy and forcing it through Rebootmon's blade, causing him to cry out at the agonizing pain that was forced within his being.

"Rebootmon!" Hajime cried out at seeing his partner in pain, feelings Yujin shared as his hands clenched at the sight, before relief filled the Appli Drivers as Justimon, Raffalismon and Dominimon join in the fight, with Justimon and Dominion plunging their blades into Desumon, while Raffalismon delivered a powerful kick with both her feet, causing the omnipotent Appmon to stagger back a few feet, giving Rebootmon the opening he needed to strike.

Facing the Digimon, Rebootmon showed his kindness, saying with gratitude. "Thank you."

"It's no problem. We're a team." Raffalismon said in reply, smiling back at Rebootmon, which sparked an idea in his head.

"Then let's show Deusmon what our team can do when we work as one." Rebootmon declared as a red aura began to circle his being, before the reboot Appmon called with might. "Reficior!"

Releasing the energies, not only did all the damage Rebootmon sustain from Deusmon's power repair itself, but Dominimon, Raffalismon and Justimon were affected by the light, each feeling their power increasing, feeling Rebootmon's power becoming one with them.

"Lets end this!" Justimon called out, causing the God Grade Appmon and the three Mega Digimon to nod in agreement as they faced Deusmon, preparing their best attacks to finish him off.

"Eclipse Eraser!"

"Justice Burst!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Ballet Gun!"

The four attacks rushed at Deusmon, who used his arms to try and block the attack, only to be shocked as the combined assault overpowered him, causing the Appmon to cry out in pain as his body dissolved before them.

But seeing one last Deusmon, in the midst of battling Goldramon, MirageGaogamon: BM, HiAndromon and Cho-Hakkaimon, everyone realized that this was the true Deusmon, and that they needed to help their friends before it was too late.

Despite the lack of a God Grade Appmon fighting on their side, the four refused to give up, giving all they could to try and take Deusmon down.

Splitting up and using their smaller frames to their advantage, Goldramon and MirageGaogamon: BM took to the skies, flying around and striking around Deusmon's head, leaving HiAndromon and Cho-Hakkaimon to go for the omnipotent Appmon's legs.

"Fatal Flame!" Goldramon bellowed as a set of golden flames surged around his hands, bringing them together and casting out the inferno at the side of Deusmon's face.

"Luna Hook Slasher!" MirageGaogamon: BM followed up, going for a close range attack as he ran the sickle side of his weapon upon the opposite side of the Appmon's head.

"Lightning Blade!" HiAndromon called from below, gathering lightning energy around his right arm, which he then threw at Deusmon's leg, just as Cho-Hakkaimon let loose and slammed her hammer upon the God Grade Appmon's foot as hard as she could.

However, even with their strength and devotion, their attacks paled to the power Deusmon held.

"Insects!" Deusmon yelled as his body surged with dark energy, knocking the four Digimon back, where they then looked up to see Deusmon about to unleash a blast of energy at them before, much to their relief and Deusmon's shock, the fists of both Hadesmon and Rebootmon slammed into the side of his face and chest, causing the omnipotent Appmon to stagger a bit, before seeing all his enemies glaring at him, seeing his copies destroyed, where he yelled in disbelief and rage. "Impossible!"

"We said that we would destroy you." Rei said back, showing his determination as he glared at the God Grade Appmon.

"And when you have friends at your side, nothing is impossible." Goldramon declared, before saying with a matching tone toward Rei's. "This time, you are going down for good!"

"Melan-Explode!"

"Eclipse Eraser!"

"Starlight Explosion!"

"Mega Electro Shocker!"

"Ballet Gun!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Laser Javelin!"

"Justice Burst!"

"Final Crescent Mirage!"

"Superior Prism!"

The combined assault of the group collided with Deusmon's being, leaving the God Grade Digimon screaming in rage and disbelief, before his body dissolved into data, where an Appmon Chip of the omnipotent Appmon appeared in his place, which then cracked and turned to dust.

The group let out sighs of relief, before checking to see how the others were faring against Thanatosmon and Aresmon, seeing that like them, their battles would be some of the toughest they had faced.

-Battle with Thanatosmon-

As the other battles began, Ouranosmon, Poseidomon, Vikemon, GrandisKuwagamon, Beelzemon: BM, MegaGargomon, Antylamon, MarineAngemon, Ravemon: BM, Rosemon: BM and Tuwarmon found themselves glaring at the grim reaper-like Appmon, where the Digimon and humans watching looked on with slight fear as Kenta looked at Eri and Astora and asked. "So... what does this guy do?"

"No idea. He's as new to us as he is to all of you." Eri said in reply, feeling an obvious worry within her, but knowing she had Astora and the others by her side, the young idol believed they could win.

However, the feeling of nervousness grew as Thanatosmon let out an unearthly shirek, as though he was portraying the dark angel he was designed to resemble, before bringing his scythe up, its golden blade glowing with a dark energy, and began to swing it down towards its foes, before Poseidomon summoned his trident and used it to block the attack, only to groan as he felt the strength behind the attack.

"I could use some help here!" Poseidomon let out, feeling that he could not hold back the death based Appmon any longer.

"You can count on us! Astral Eruption!" Ouranosmon called in reply as he began gathering electricity in his hands, converting the electricity into fire and casting out the attack as a series of fireballs.

"Arctic Blizzard!" Vikemon followed up, raising a wall of ice before him, which he smashed with his morningstar, sending a massive barrage of ice shards at Thanatosmon.

"Grandis Whirlwind!" GrandisKuwagamon called as he released a great wind from his wings, the force turning the winds savage as they rushed towards Thanatosmon.

"Corona Destroyer!" Beelzemon: BM all but yelled as he released a huge onslaught of energy from his Blaster, casting out a great beam of dark purple energy at the reaper Appmon.

"Mega Barrage!" MegaGargomon announced as he released a series of energy shots from the ports mounted upon his wrists.

"Kahuna Waves!" MarineAngemon called, giving it all he could despite his size, casting out a collection of heart shaped bubbles at Thanatosmon, knowing what his attack lacked in size, it made up for in power, knowing that the more dark hearted the enemy, the more pain his attack would bring.

And from what MarineAngemon was sensing, Thanatosmon was one of the most evil things he had ever encountered.

"Jewel of Heart!" Rosemon: BM called as she finished off the barrage, summoning several pink spheres of energy, which shot out their own blasts of energy upon Thanatosmon, before shooting at him.

However, before the seven attacks could make contact with the death Appmon's form, Thanatosmon's eyes glowed brighter, where black portals opened up in the path of the attacks, absorbing them, before closing, shocking the heroes to this action.

Astora, however, then noticed seven more portals opening up behind those that attacked, before realizing what was happening as the Apptuber yelled in warning. "Watch out!"

Ouranosmon, Vikemon, GrandisKuwagamon, Beelzemon: BM, MegaGargomon, MarineAngemon and Rosemon: BM turned just in time to see their own attacks come out of the portals and strike them, causing the seven to cry out in pain as they were hit by their own abilities, before Poseidomon let out a cry as Thanatomon pushed him back, swinging his scythe one again, where a dark crescent wave of energy shot out and collided with the invincible Appmon's chest, sending him flying back a few feet as he skidded across the ground.

The sight of their partners all suffering caused shock to fill Joe, Kenta, Yoshi, Astora and Eri, all crying out their partner's names in concern and quickly rushing to check on them, finding them all still able to fight, but the damage they had sustained had taken a great toll.

Antylamon, Ravemon: BM and Tuwarmon, meanwhile, looked up just in time to see Thanatosmon raise his hands as it let out a horrible shriek, where several ghostly energy skulls appeared around his being, before shooting down towards the three, causing them to go on the defensive as they tried to dodge the attack.

"Ranged doesn't seem to work with him. We need to get closer!" Ravemon yelled as he swung his wings, cutting the skulls in half with his claws, where the skulls dissolved, before looking to see the others get up and nod, ready to take their opponent down, no matter what it takes.

Preparing to attack again, Thanatosmon drew his scythe up, about to slam it down and cast out another terrifying attack, but found he was restricted as Ouranosmon moved behind and grabbed at him, holding Thanatosmon's arms back.

"I've got him, now you guys show him what you can do!" Ouranosmon called out, getting nods from the others as they all rushed forward, getting as close to Thantosmon as they could as they prepared to attack.

"Trident Fall!"

"Viking Flare!"

"Grandis Scissor!"

"Darkness Claw!"

"Power Pummel!"

"Bunny Blades!"

"Kahuna Wave!"

"Mourning Dance!"

"Thorn Whipping!"

"Mantis Dance!"

The attacks all collided with Thanatosmon's chest, where the Appmon let out a cry of pain and rage, before Ouranosmon pushed his opponent forward, giving him some distance, before he joined in the attacks as he called out in close range. "Astral Eruption!"

The attack slammed into the death Appmon's back, causing it to let out an ear shattering shriek as his body dissolved, the scythe falling from his hand as it too dissolved before it could hit the ground.

And with their victory, while the group were in joy, Eri let her emotions out.

"Way to go!" She called, overjoyed and acting to what she was feeling as she set her hands around Astora's face and pulled him in for a deep kiss, leaving the Apptuber blushing deeply at Eri's actions, still getting used to having the girl of his dreams kissing him.

But after realizing it was ok, Astora closed his eyes and kissed Eri back, the sight causing most of the humans and Digimon to smile for a while, knowing that though the death Appmon was no more, Aresmon remained.

-Battle with Aresmon-

As their friends dealt with A.R.E.S.' servants, Gaiamon, Omnimon Alter-S, SaviourVeedramon, Lightbringer Ophanimon, Gallantmon: CM, Sakuyamon, ShineGreymon: BM, Susanoomon and Shoutmon X7 were left to fight the avatar of the A.I. themselves as they glared at Aresmon, seeing the war Appmon holding his blades as though ready to attack.

"**Humanity, no matter what world it seems, does not change. They are constantly pushing themselves further and further towards their own destruction, whether through fear, or hatred and regrets.**" Aresmon said, referencing the humans that remade him, while looking at Lightbringer Ophanimon, referencing the Dark Queen in his statement as well.

"**Humanity, Digimon, Appmon, they all need a guiding hand to keep them from destroying themselves. They have squandered their chances, and now I will correct those mistakes, once I have dealt with you all first.**" The war Appmon then declared, where the eight Digimon and the one God Grade Appmon glared back, ready to defend their worlds and their friends.

"We won't let you have your way. It's true there are mistakes in our worlds, but there is also good. Humans, Digimon, Appmon, we all have choices in our lives, and it's from experience that we learn to become better than we are now." Haru said back, residing his trust within the Appmon and the friends he had made.

"Sure, we stumble, we make mistakes, but without them, we can't learn, we can't grow and become something more. A world where we can't make mistakes is a world were none of us, human, Digimon or Appmon can exist, and that is why we will always stand against those that threaten our hopes and dreams." Davis then added through SaviourVeedramon, bringing a smile to a few of the groups' faces as they remembered how Davis use to act compared to the man he is today.

"You artificial intelligences think the same when you don't see the big picture. You only see the negatives of humanity, the pain, the suffering, which makes you believe that's a problem, but these are what give us life. We cannot live without both happiness and sadness, it's all those emotions that make us who we are." Gallantmon said, speaking as both Takato and Guilmon, both feeling the same emotions, feeling Aresmon's misdirection toward humanity was the same as the D-Reaper's.

"You fight to destroy, but if you took the time to understand us, to understand the feelings humans, Digimon and Appmon hold, you would know you were wrong. In your view, we are the problem, but we are the ones trying to make the world a better place. I know you are smart for an artificial intelligence, but you cannot see that what you're doing is evil." Mikey added, he too understanding Aresmon's mislead ideals and hoping there would be even a fraction of it that would take his words into deep consideration.

"So consider this your one and only warning, give up or you'll see what the bonds between humans, Digimon and Appmon are really capable of!" Marcus declared as he slammed his fist in his palm, a look of determination on his face as he and the others prepared to end this fight once and for all.

"**Come then and show my your worthiness of existence! Let me see what your kind are capable of!**" Aresmon challenged as the blades on his back began to glow a bright red, before he fired several beams of red energy at the group, causing most to scatter, while Gaiamon, Shoutmon X7 and Omnimon blocked the attacks, groaning from the strain of the power being forced against them.

"Heaven's Might!"

"Radiant Blast!"

"Final Justice!"

"Spirit Fox!"

"Heaven's Thunder!"

"Torrid White!"

The combined attacks of SaviourVeedramon, Lightbringer Ophanimon, Gallantmon: CM, Sakuyamon, ShineGreymon: BM and Susanoomon all collided with Aresmon's face, causing him to stagger a bit, before the war Appmon regained his footing, swinging the two blades in his hands as he called out. "**Destruction Waves!**"

With each swing of the blades, crescent shaped waves of flame shot out towards the six Digimon, who dodged the attacks as best they could, before Gaiamon closed the distance between him and Aresmon, wanting to get up close to battle this new form of Leviathan.

The creation Appmon began swinging his fist as he delivered punches at kicks at Aresmon, who barely dodged each one, swinging his blade in retaliation as Gaiamon ducked and dodged the attacks in return.

"**You cannot defeat me. I have studied your fighting patterns from our previous encounters and know what you will do before you can even process such thoughts.**" Aresmon declared, bringing up his blade, where it blocked Gaiamon's fists as they came crashing down at him.

"You'd be surprised at what I can do if you got to know me." Gaiamon said back, seeing his attack wasn't enough and causing him to jump back, distancing himself from the war Appmon.

"Ultimate Adamas!" Gaiamon called out as he brought up his right hand, where a spear of blue energy formed, before he threw it at Aresmon, who used his blades to block the attack as he started to say. "**Too predictab...**"

"Transcendent Cannon!"

"Final Victory Blade!"

The combined attacks of Omnimon and Shoutmon X7 slammed into Aresmon's back, causing him to let out a pained cry, before seeing some of the other Digimon close to his face.

"You might be able to predict Gaiamon's attacks, but fighting as one, there is nothing we can't do." Lightbringer Ophanimon declared, speaking as Kari and Gatomon, both feeling nothing but trust in one another and in all those they cherished.

"Holy Slash!"

"Shining Blades!"

"Invincible Sword!"

"Thunder Kick!"

"Celestial Blade!"

"Corona Blaze Sword!"

The attacks all collided with Aresmon, scratching up his armour, while breaking off the blades protruding from his back, causing the war Appmon to cry out, falling to him knees, before he looked around, seeing all five of the Appli Drivers' God Grades surrounding him, as well as the Digi-heroes, where he saw Gaiamon and the others Appmon began to glow, particularly Gaiamon, Hadesmon and Rebootmon's halos, Posiedomon's trident, alongside Ouranosmon's face.

"This ends once and for all! A.R.E.S., Leviathan, no matter who you are or how many times you come back, we will always be there to stop you, to show that life, organic or digital, is worth protecting and saving!" Gaiamon declared, before all five God Grade Appmon unleashed beams of pure light at Aresmon, who let out a deafening cry as his body was dissolved, a massive explosion covering the area, leaving only a crater as the last of A.R.E.S. was destroyed for good.

"We did it! Extra Groovy!" Astora called out in joy, doing his signature pose alongside Ouranosmon, while Hajime and Izzy were looking at their laptops as the Digidestined of Knowledge then informed with his own joy. "There's no sign of A.R.E.S. in the Digital World any more, he's gone for good!"

The Appli Drivers and Digi-heroes all cheered loudly, with Lightbringer Ophanimon and SaviourVeedramon returning to the ground as they reverted back to their human and Digimon forms, with Kari, Davis and their partners all smiling to see that the threat of the man made A.I. was finally over.

However, the celebration was instantly halted when Kari let out a scream of pure pain, calling to her knees and clenching her head as a dark aura surrounded her, with similar energy spiking all along her body.

"Kari!" Everyone yelled as they rushed to her, only for time itself to seem to freeze as Kari looked up through her pain, seeing everyone and everything, even the falling snow, frozen in place, before she saw her corrupted counterpart walk around out of the corner of her eye, standing in front of her past self as she smiled darkly.

"You...!" Kari tried to say through her pain, adding with gritted teeth. "You won't get away..."

"I already have. Soon, you will be gone forever and I will have your body as my own. But don't worry, once all your friends are dead, I promise to take good care of Davis. I can promise that MY beloved will be very happy by my side as we rule the new worlds together." The Dark Queen said with a smirk, before placing her index finger on Kari's forehead, where everything went blank and she knew no more.


	12. Chapter 12

Through her empty eyes, an unknowing girl looked around the area, finding herself in a barren wasteland, finding that other than herself, there was no life, nothing.

The sky above was pitch black, as were the rocks and jagged spike around her, but the girl paid no mind, wandering aimlessly, holding her arms as she felt a chill through her, feeling alone, the girl then asked. "Is anybody there? Can anybody tell me where I am?"

Stopping, she got a response as a bright light appeared before her, and a being made of pure light clad in robes descended in front of her.

But unsure of who or what it was, the girl stepped back a little out of instinctive fear.

"**Do not fear, I have come as promised.**" The being said, confusing the girl at first, before she asked the one question that was plaguing her mind. "Who am I?"

"**Hold still.**" The being said, raising its hand, were all around, wisps of light came from all around, surrounding the girl, before light returned to her eyes, along with her memories.

She was Kari Kamiya, the Digidestined of Light, and she remembered the figure before her as she asked in confusion. "Izael?"

Nodding in reply, the Light Being replied. "**The Dark Queen had planned this, to erase your mind and leave you trapped here so she could get what she desired, that was something I refused to allow. The protection I gave you has prevented that, and now both of you are trapped in your mind until one of you is gone. She is not far from here.**"

Kari's eyes widened as she looked around, seeing that this barren landscape was in fact her own mind, slowly being warped and twisted by her corrupt counterpart, before she felt her fear returning as she then asked Izael. "How.. how do I stop her?"

"**You must believe in yourself. You have power equal to her own, but unlike her, you are not alone.**" Izael replied, confusing Kari a little bit, just before understanding.

"Kari!" A familiar voice then called out, causing Kari to turn and look behind her, her eyes tearing as she saw Davis rushing over to her, unable to hold back his own emotions as he wrapped his arms around Kari, holding her close to him.

"I don't know what happened. I first saw you in pain and then I was here." Davis said as he held Kari close, before both turned and looked at Izael, knowing it was his doing that he had been brought to Kari in her time of need.

"**The power I gave you both has strengthened your link, you are in her mind now as well, and you both must stop the Dark Queen, or all will be lost. Use the light within you to counter her darkness. I must go now, goodbye, and good luck.**" The image of the Light Being said before he disappeared, leaving the two Digidestined alone, before Kari looked up at Davis, seeing the reassuring smile on his face, where he took her hand as the pair headed down the path that they felt lead towards the corrupted Kari.

Eventually, the two arrived at the base of a set of stairs, looking up to see a throne Kari recognized as the same on from the memories of the Dark Sphere, where sitting on it was the Dark Queen, her outfit and dark aura the same, but her appearance was different, now looking the same as Kari as she glared down at both of them.

"So, that filth is the reason I couldn't take full control yet? I should have known that they would once again stand in my way, stand in our way." The Dark Kari said with spitefulness as she looked upon Davis and Kari, where the pair remained steadfast as they glared up at the dark version of the Digidestined of Light.

"This has to end! Can't you see that you would only harm Davis like this? Harm his friends? They all care for him, respect him!" Kari yelled at her counterpart as she stood up and continued to glare down at them.

"You dare speak to me like that!? You don't know what I have been through, how I have suffered. The darkness made me realize the truth, it gave me the power I desired to make things better. And I can promise that once you are gone, Davis will come to accept the darkness within and will come to love the true Kari Kamiya." The Dark Queen said with malice in her voice, before her eyes narrowed as she saw Davis move a hand protectively in front of his Kari's being.

"That darkness has blinded you, misguided you and snuffed out the real Kari inside of you. If you don't leave now, then we will do what we must to stop you." The maroon haired boy said in reply, knowing that his words alone would just be ignored by the corruptive influence over the Dark Queen, before he and Kari looked at one another, their eyes filled with belief and determination, before they closed them, where their bodies began glowing with a bright light as the Dark Queen gained a look of disbelief and rage.

Watching as the light remained circling around Davis and Kari, the Dark Queen stared with a growing hate, watching as the light reacted to the power and feelings within the Digidestined, allowing that power to express itself on the outside, where both Digidestined got a change in their clothing.

Looking at Davis, despite him being her enemy, there was a part of the Dark Queen that couldn't help but admire the more noble form Davis had taken, seeing her maroon haired love no longer wearing his regular attire, but clad over his chest, arms and his legs was shining gold coloured armour, where etching and carvings were expertly set within the chestpiece, the shoulderplates stuck out a little, each holding a blue gem, while a white cape flowed down the back of his new armour.

And in his hands, Davis wielded a mighty looking sword, a copy of the Omni Sword, which he swung with great mastery, as if it were second nature to him.

'You always were my knight in shining armour.' The Dark Queen thought to herself for a moment as she took in Davis' form.

As for Kari, though she too gained her own armour, her's was more revealing when compared to Davis', with her chest covered by a golden breastplate, showing off her cleavage and her smooth stomach, her legs were more armoured compared to her chest, with the leggings matching Davis' in appearance and in design.

Kari's arms were set with golden bracelets, while a golden circlet, set with a pink gem rested upon her head, leaving the Digidestined of Light staring at her dark half with a great and undying determined expression, feeling the power of light flowing through her more than ever as four wings of pure light erupted from her back, glowing brightly as they flapped a little.

These forms were from their own power, from the fragments of the ancient Warriors within their souls, mirroring the darkness that surrounded the Dark Queen, leaving her glaring in pure hatred.

"That power... has ruined our lives... used to keep us as tools and made us weak... keep us from what we really are..." The Dark Queen seethed as the aura around her grew and took shape, resembling a black mass that towered over all of them, where Kari and Davis could see a pair of glowing red eyes as the mass emitted a loud, unearthly cry of anger and rage, a manifestation of the dark beast's fragment inside of the Dark Queen, one the Digidestined knew was a part of them as well.

"I will end this cursed light... I will return creation to the darkness it spawned from, and give us, Davis, a world where we can be together forever!" The Dark Kari cried out with an insane look on her face as she looked down at the pair, ready to battle to rid herself of her weak counterpart and help her love back to her, to embrace her and the darkness inside of him and become who he was meant to be.

The Dark King.

-Waking world-

Outside of Kari's mind, Kari's body remained in its expressed pained stance, resting on her knees, only her eyes were closed and her head slumped in her chest, while right in front of her, Davis was in a similar position, having approached his love only a moment ago to check on her, before he too fell.

The others surrounded the pair in worry, but both Veemon and Gatomon sensed something, causing the Digimon of Miracles to address the others as he said. "Don't ask us how, probably something Izael did, but we can sense them, they are ok, they are together and fighting the Dark Queen inside of Kari's mind."

"We have to help them!" Valkyrimon yelled in concern for his friends, before Izzy let out in reply. "How? I don't see anyway for us to help them."

"We can help." Gatomon cut in as she placed her paw on Kari's arm, looking at her partner and at Davis with a trusting expression, before turning towards the others and saying. "Whatever's happening in there, we just have to believe in them."

"I know Davis and Kari would do the same for us." Veemon added as he placed his hand on Davis' back, looking at his best friend with a sincere, confident and serious expression.

Though they wanted to do more, the group begrudgingly agreed, while Thomas looked on in thought.

"Why now? She could have done this at any time, so why now?" The blond questioned aloud, getting the others attention as they thought on what he said.

"Yeah. Even if the Dark Queen won, we're all right here, she'd have to deal with us, so what is she...?" Mikey started to say, before a loud booming sound was heard above, and the group saw a massive shadow appear over them, causing all to look up, where their eyes widened in shock to see the massive black sphere above them, one the Digi-heroes quickly recognized from the story their counterparts told them years ago.

Stepping back instinctively, Eri asked. "What is that thing?"

"Whatever it is, it's full of major bad vibes." Ouranosmon commented as he picked up on the dark energies that filled the spherical object, leaving most of the Appli Drivers in concern.

"That's the Dark Sphere." Tai informed through Omnimon Alter-S, hating what it had done as he told the Appli Drivers. "In another reality, it was used to corrupt their Kari and turn her into the Dark Queen."

"What do we do then?" Rei asked in worry and some fear, where Marcus replied with a glare. "They made the mistake of trying to figure out what it was, we won't. We'll take it down and fast!"

Agreeing with Marcus' words, the Digimon and Appmon all attacked, using their long range moves as to avoid any contact with the darkness and allow it to alter them in ways they could only imagine.

"Transcendent Cannon!"

"Crimson Flare!"

"Ballet Gun!"

"Mega Electro Shocker!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Fatal Flame!"

"Grandis Whirlwind!"

"Punishing Storm!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Invincible Sword!"

"Spirit Strike!"

"Mega Barrage!"

"Justice Burst!"

"Corona Blaster!"

"Bunny Blades!"

"Atomic Ray!"

"Kahuna Waves!"

"Heaven's Thunder!"

"Final Shining Burst!"

"Meteor Shackle!"

"Forbidden Temptation!"

"Crimson Formation!"

"Seven Victorize!"

"Superior Prism!"

"Scythe Spinner!"

"Roast of the Pig!"

"Ultimate Adamas!"

"Sea Emperor Palm Strike!"

"Astral Eruption!"

"Melan-Explode!"

"Eclipse Eraser!"

As Veemon and Gatomon remained with the motionless forms of Davis and Kari, the attacks all rushed towards the Sphere, before the heroes were shocked as they seemed to crash into a dark barrier around the object, dispelling and dissolving, before they saw dark energy surging around the Sphere.

_The light shall fade..._

_The darkness shall rule..._

_Suffer..._

"Move!" Omnimon quickly called out as bolts of dark energy began to fire out towards the group, causing them to scatter as they continued to try and attack the sphere, while dodging the blasts it generated, seeing it seemingly acting on a defensive instinct.

Meanwhile, the group saw a cluster of dark energy tendrils coming out of the Sphere's bottom, heading straight for the unconscious form of Kari, where Omnimon quickly shot towards them, cutting the tendrils apart, before seeing more starting to come down.

"It's going for Kari! We have to stop it!" Tai yelled out, expressing concern not only for his sibling, but for Davis, Veemon and Gatomon, causing the group to redouble their efforts to stop the Sphere, while hoping that the battle inside of Kari's mind was faring better.

-With Davis and Kari-

Back inside of Kari's mind, Kari and Davis fought against the Dark Queen, where the corrupted version of the brunette extended her arms and metal wings, her twin blades forming in her hands as she shot at the pair, namely at Kari, for her obsessed love for Davis was a distraction.

However, the Digidestined of Light brought her hands together, forming a spear of pure light as she used it to block the attack, before moving back as her dark counterpart tried to deliver a kick to her side.

Before Kari could react, several dark tendrils appeared around her, wrapping around her to hold her in place, where the Dark Queen moved to strike, only for their eyes to widen as Davis appeared between the two Karis, first using his blade to quickly slice through the dark tendrils, saving his love and then pressing his blade against himself, using it to absorb the pressure of the Dark Queen's kick.

"Davis... move, please! I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you won't listen to me!" The Dark Queen pleaded, her tone of anger and actual concern, finding part of her unable to bare the thought of her love suffering, finding the memories of her Davis' end were filling her head and weakening her fighting spirit.

_Extinguish the light..._

_Bring them to the dark..._

_The Light is manipulating him... Destroy the light to get what you desire..._

All around the three heard the whispers, along with the sounds of their friends outside, with Kari and Davis now knowing that the Dark Sphere had arrived, where Davis and Kari gained worried looks as the Dark Queen's head was done, an insane laugh leaving her lips, before she looked back at them with a maniacal look on her face as she pushed Davis back.

"Sorry, Davis, but if I need to crush your spirit and a few bones before you belong to me, then so be it!" The Dark Queen said as her eyes glowed a dark purple, where her aura grew as several orbs appeared around her, firing blasts of dark energy at the pair, who quickly did what they could to dodge the attacks, with Davis' blade glowing as he swung it, sending a shockwave of energy back at the dark Kari who merely jumped over it, before using her blades to block several arrows of light, courtesy of Kari, whose spear had changed into a bow, before changing back as she and Davis rushed the Dark Queen, using their weapons against her as she parried their attacks, trading them with ones of her own.

"You cannot stop us. Together, we will put an end to you and your evil once and for all!" Davis stated as he swung his blade at the Dark Queen, finding her block the attack as she brought her arms up, allowing the blade to make contact, but the Digidestined of Miracles saw that the darkness around the Dark Queen was acting as a secondary armour, protecting her.

"Wrong! Together, we will rebuild this world and reign supreme!" The Dark Queen said back, drawing one hand back, where it filled with darkness, which she then brought forth and pressed into Davis' chest, where the force of the strike threw Davis back, causing him to groan as he crashed along the ground.

At seeing Davis in pain, seeing the darkness sparking off of his being as he tried to rise, dread and concern filled Kari, where she was about to rush on and check on her boyfriend, but found her movements restricted as the Dark Queen moved in and tightly set her hand around Kari's throat.

"I will rip that light from you, I will allow the darkness inside to take hold and make you see the truth." The dark Kari told Davis, her eyes filling with absolute hate as she glared at Kari and added. "All I need to do first is rid us of this wretched girl."

However, before she could do anything, the Dark Queen felt something slam into her, causing her to let go of Kari and skid back a few feet, where she looked up with shock to see Davis barely on his feet in front of her counterpart, a glare on his face, despite the pain he was still in.

The sight of seeing Davis defending Kari caused flashes for the Dark Queen, remembering her Davis, his bravery, his selflessness and how he always defended her, before the memories of his death and the pain she constantly felt returned.

"Keep your hands off her..." Davis said through his panting, remaining strong for the Digidestined of Light as he took to a more battle ready stance and declared. "No matter what happens to me, I will protect her..."

Shaking, the Dark Queen said with an insane smile. "I... I know... but soon... soon you'll see that I'm the one you'll be protecting."

-Waking world-

In the Digital World, meanwhile, the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers were trying their best to damage the Dark Sphere, but to no avail, for the dark object continued to fire bolts of dark energy at them, while the constant and insidious whispers of the Dark Sphere were starting to get on everyone's nerves.

"Can someone please get it to shut up already?!" Airu yelled as she covered her ears, but found that she could still hear the whispers filling her head, showing that they were hearing them in their minds as well.

"Ignore it. Just focus on stopping it!" Shoutmon X7 yelled as he tried another attack, only for the barrier to absorb it with ease, frustrating the Digimon King, but he knew he had to remain alert, not only having to fight the darkness, but to keep it from reaching Kari.

Meanwhile, as they stood by their partners, Veemon and Gatomon saw some of the dark tendrils heading towards them, but from seeing the angle they were moving towards, their eyes widened as they sprang into action.

"Vee-Headbutt!" Veemon announced as he slammed his head into one of the tendrils, reacting to his instinct to protect Davis and Kari as the thought of corruption through contact never entered his head.

"Lightning Claw!" Gatomon called with a great might as she ran her claws through a series of tendrils, making sure they were shredded completely and unable to regenerate.

From their attacks, Veemon and Gatomon both noticed the same thing, noticing the movement patterns of the destroyed the tendrils, where Veemon looked up and yelled in concern. "Guys, it's after Davis, not Kari!"

Hearing this caused the heroes to redouble their efforts, fearing what would happen if the Sphere could influence Davis as it had the Dark Queen, knowing Davis held a darkness similar to the Dark Queen, and if unleashed, all kinds of disasters would occur.

-Kari's Mind-

Back inside of Kari's darkening mindscape, the two Digidestined heard Veemon's warning, causing their eyes to widen, while the Dark Queen laughed maniacally.

"I told you that the darkness was your destiny, my love. Soon you'll see the world as I do, a hateful realm that deserves to suffer, and together, we will end these pests and make a world where no one will ever keep us apart again. We'll finally have the live we always wanted together." The dark Kari said with an insane laugh, before the darkness around her morphed once more, with dozens of large, black tendrils forming as they quickly wrapped around the pair, restraining Davis, while slowly crushing Kari.

"There's no way I'll let the darkness turn me into a monster like you!" Davis said back with a defiant tone.

"It's who you are... who you... who we were meant to be." The Dark Queen replied with a smirk, ignoring Davis' words, believing that he would join her soon, which continued to cheer the dark copy of Kari, thinking that together, they could destroy her weaker counterpart and remake her Legion anew.

-Outside-

As the Digimon and Appmon continued to try and damage the Dark Sphere, the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers that weren't Biomerged were on the ground, trying to cheer their partners and friends, while trying their best to ignore the whispers.

While Suzie and Kenta were using their Digimon Cards to boost the power of the partners and their friends, Marcus was facing the darkness on himself, refusing to stand back and fought with great fury, destroying the dark tendrils with powerful punches.

And as Eri also joined in on the fight, the young idol living up to her fighter model title, smashing the dark tendrils to bits, a loud shriek then caught their attention.

Looking at the shadow cast by the Sphere, the humans' eyes widened as they saw shapes start to form and come out of the shadow, thousands of them, and ones they easily recognized as the horde of shadowy four armed Stalkers started to rush towards them, causing the Appli Drivers to freak out, while Airu shouted. "Oh, not these guys again!"

-Kari's mind-

The Dark Queen continued to laugh as tendrils slowly squeezed around Kari, where Davis struggled to get free and save her, but found himself restricted by the tendrils that blocked his path, leaving the Digidestined of Light in a panic, before Izael's words came back to her.

'**_You must believe in yourself. You have power equal to her own..._**'

'He's... he's right... this is my mind... so it's my rules!' Kari thought as she concentrated, before letting out a loud cry as the light within her exploded in a burst of energy, not only destroying the tendrils around being, but around Davis as well, while causing the Dark Queen to cry out in pain as the energy hit her, causing her swords and her wings to dissolve as she backed up in pain.

"What... what is this?!" The dark Kari questioned, stunned at the sudden change of battle, having been so close to ending the Digidestined of Light and convincing Davis to join her, only for it to be taken away from her.

"It's my mind, not yours', so what I say goes." Kari replied with a smirk as Davis moved next to her, causing the Dark Queen to grow as she brought her hands up to attack, only for both Kari and Davis to respond as they gathered their energy into their hands, sending out a blast of light that slammed into the dark Kari, causing her to cry out as she was thrown back.

When the smoke cleared, Kari and Davis remained on the defensive as they saw the Dark Queen, beaten and battered, slowly trying to rise to her feet, the dark aura around her still moving as she looked at them, but not with anger or rage, but in desperation as tears began to roll down her eyes.

"I.. I can't lose... not now... I... I can't lose him again... I cannot, after coming this far, I... I..." The dark Kari started to say as she continued to tear up, before stopping with her shaky words as she felt a hand rest upon her shoulder.

Confused at first, the Dark Queen thought that perhaps the light being returned to help her enemies, but the look on Davis and Kari's faces told her otherwise, causing her to slowly turn her head, before she held back a sob as the tears sped up.

It was another Davis, or to be precise, her Davis, smiling down at her with the love and kindness she missed so much.

"It's alright, Kari, I'm here for you, always." The second Davis said with a smile, taking the Dark Queen's hand as he helped her up, but as he did so, the darkness around her seemed to shed off her form, pooling on the ground, leaving the dark Kari looking exactly as she did the day she entered the Dark Sphere herself, wearing the same outfit as she embraced her Davis, sobbing loudly into his chest as she let all her anger, rage, sorrows and regrets out, while her Davis just smiled and remained holding her close.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I missed you... I love you, I'm so sorry I never said it, I..." The former Dark Queen sobbed, feeling a warmth inside her for the first time in years as her Davis continued to hold her close, a sight that brought a smile to their counterparts, with Kari almost tearing herself as the loving scene, knowing that no matter what, Davis, no matter which one, would always be there for her.

"I wouldn't lie to say that the dark side to you was pretty bad, but I know it wasn't your fault. I know that the real Kari is still inside your heart." The second Davis soothed, gently resting his hand under his Kari's chin, lifting her head to meet his gaze, where he added. "And the blame is also on me. I should've been there for you, to tell you that no matter what, I would always love you."

Reacting to her Davis' words and her emotions, the second Kari then leaned in as she kissed the man she loved, who more than willingly kissed her back, before the pair saw a circle of light formed around their feet, both knowing what it meant.

"I'm scared..." The former Dark Queen said, before looking in her Davis' eyes as he set his hand on her back, rubbing it softly and saying with a soothing and trustworthy tone."Don't worry, Kari. Like I said, I'll be with you no matter what."

It was then that a bright light filled the area, causing the present Kari and Davis to shield their eyes, before looking to see their counterparts gone, vanished from Kari's mind, causing them both to smile, knowing that their alternate counterparts were both finally at peace.

However, the pair then noticed the pool of darkness that fell off of the Dark Queen begin to move and grow, slowly taking shape, where a pair of red eyes emerged from the dark mass and glared at them, turning into a shadow figure in a dark robe, with tendrils starting to move about its back.

"**I am the dark dream... The monster in your nightmares... the shadow that knows no dawn... THE TERROR OF THE DARK, AND I WILL BE FREE!**" The fragment of the darkness that was inside of the Dark Queen raged, hoping to crush the two before it and take their fragments for itself.

However, Davis and Kari merely looked at one another, nodding to unspoken words, before both held the other's hand, the light within them being unleashed in a massive explosion of light as the darkness let out a loud cry as the entire area was covered in light.

-Waking world-

As the Stalkers were about ready to pounce on the humans, both Davis and Kari's eyes snapped open, where the creatures quickly came to a halt in their actions and dissolved into shadows, causing the humans to let out a sigh of relief as they looked at the duo.

Meanwhile, above them, the Dark Sphere gave off an almost moaning sound, the energy around it dying as the red energy moving around its shell disappeared.

"The barrier is down so give it everything you've got!" Omnimon alter-S cried out, causing all the Digimon and Appmon to unleash their attacks a final time.

"Transcendent Cannon!"

"Crimson Flare!"

"Ballet Gun!"

"Mega Electro Shocker!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Fatal Flame!"

"Grandis Whirlwind!"

"Punishing Storm!"

"Excalibur's Might!"

"Invincible Sword!"

"Spirit Strike!"

"Mega Barrage!"

"Justice Burst!"

"Corona Blaster!"

"Bunny Blades!"

"Atomic Ray!"

"Kahuna Waves!"

"Heaven's Thunder!"

"Final Shining Burst!"

"Meteor Shackle!"

"Forbidden Temptation!"

"Crimson Formation!"

"Seven Victorize!"

"Superior Prism!"

"Scythe Spinner!"

"Roast of the Pig!"

"Ultimate Adamas!"

"Sea Emperor Palm Strike!"

"Astral Eruption!"

"Melan-Explode!"

"Eclipse Eraser!"

And with Davis and Kari back in the waking world, Veemon and Gatomon joined in, harnessing the power of their partner's D-3s and Digivolving to Magnamon and Magnadramon, where they too added their power.

"Magna Blast!" Magnamon called, releasing his light power off of his being.

"Fire Tornado!" Magnadramon followed up with a mighty roar, casting out a stream of flames from her mouth, which spiraled around Magnamon's light, intensifying its shine and its power.

The combined attacks of the Digimon and Appmon crashed into the various sides of the Dark Sphere, punching through its hull and towards the center, where the heroes thought it would explode.

Instead, however, there seemed to be almost a black hole at the object's center, sucking the destroyed Sphere into it, before closing, where the heroes all shielded their eyes for a second as the sunlight hit their eyes.

Seeing that both Davis and Kari were now alright, and that the Dark Sphere was gone, the heroes all cheered happily, with the Digimon and Appmon all reverting to their original forms as they rushed to check on the pair.

"Are you two ok?" Tai asked in concern for his sister and her boyfriend, where the lovers looked at one another and smiled.

"Yeah, she's at peace now. It's over." Davis replied with a reassuring smile, causing everyone to let out a sigh of relief to know that the nightmare was finally over.

However, hearing something, Astora gained a rather disturbed look as he asked. "Hold up a minute, if that Sphere thing is gone, why can I still hear it whispering in my head?"

The group then realized that Astora was correct, with everyone looking around to try and find the source.

_Champions..._

_Champions..._

"**CHAMPIONS...**"

The group then jumped as they heard the whispers turn into a loud, fighting voice, causing them to turn, where they all saw one of A.R.E.S.' destroyed drones having a dark aura around it, where its head turned towards them as something spoke through it. "**It's TIME we Treated you WITH the respect YOU deserve... Speak FACE to FACE...**"

The voice unnerved the heroes, sounding like multiple people, ranging from a small child to a monster.

But what unnerved them even more is when the broken shell seemed to rise up like a marionette drawn up by its strings, floating in the air for a moment as its broken parts seemed to be repairing itself, causing Tagiru to say in a fearful voice. "What the hell?!"

"**There is a change IN the AIR... We CAN feel It... Even In the DARK...**" The being then said, causing Davis, Kari and their partners to realize that this must be one of the Dark Ones Izael mentioned, where they moved in front of the group in a protective manner, startling the others slightly.

"**You FEAR us as you FEARED A.R.E.S... But we Are not your ENEMIES...**" The Dark One said as the drone's legs reformed, where it slowly walked towards the groups.

"**All this PAIN... All this SUFFERING caused by the LIGHT... but you two CAN bring Eternal PEACE to ALL... In time... You will REALISE We are right... And When you do... WE Shall be WAITING...**" The Dark One finished, before the dark aura faded from the drone, its form crumbling to the ground and turning to dust, leaving the heroes silent, for they knew that though the battle was over, the war between these beings would continue to rage across time and space, and at the center would always be Davis and Kari.


	13. Chapter 13

As the sun began to set, the Digi-heroes and Appli Drivers reported back to Axis City and the DPF, letting Sampson and the others know that not only was A.R.E.S. defeated, but that the Dark Queen was gone for good, news that caused them to let out sighs of relief, before the DATS Commander informed them that Hashima informed them that the A.I. project had been officially terminated, and all the Data involved deleted.

Now, arriving back in their apartment, Davis was somewhat confused as to why Gatomon and Veemon said that they were going to stay in the Digital World for a while, and why Haru and Gatchmon offered to stay with one of the others for the evening.

"Hey Kari, do you know why...?" The maroon haired boy started to ask, before he was silenced as Kari wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss, one filled with love, need and desperation.

And looking in Kari's eyes as she remained kissing him, Davis her need, knowing what was Kari had in mind.

"I asked everyone to let us be tonight. I.. I just want it to be us tonight, no Digimon, no, Appmon, no dark being or A.I.s trying to toy with us, just you and me, me with the man I love, please." Kari said with a small and desiring voice, just wanting to be close to the man she loved, not only feeling horrible that she almost lost him, but also wanted to feel his love after seeing his counterpart and how he stayed just to be with his Kari, wanting to feel that love herself.

Simply nodding to Kari's request, wanting to soothe the girl he loves, Davis lifted her in a bridal style hold and carried her to the bedroom, where he lay the Digidestined of Light on the bed, removed his shirt and climbed on top of her, keeping Kari in the mood as he began to kiss around her neck and collarbone.

"Oh, Davis..." Kari moaned, feeling herself getting hotter at Davis' kisses, where she allowed her hands to roam along his back, enjoying the feel of her love's skin upon her fingers.

Kari then pushed Davis gently up a little, before pulling her own shirt over her head and tossing it to the floor, leaving her in her pink bra, which she unclipped and threw to the side with the shirt, showing her D-cup breasts in all their glory as she hungrily kissed Davis on the lips once more.

The pair continued to make out for several more minutes, just enjoying one another's company and the love they held for each other as Kari's hands roamed her lover's body, while Davis' gently caressed her skin, before he felt the brunette's hands unbuckle his belt and slide down his jeans, knowing that his love wanted more.

Looking at Kari with a sly smile, Davis reacted to Kari's actions as he set his hands on her skirt, taking hold of her hips as he relieved the Digidestined of Light of not only her skirt, but also her panties, leaving her lying naked beneath him, the sight filling Davis with desire, before Kari wrapped her right hand behind his head and pulled him down for another kiss, one he willingly returned, wanting to be gentle as he always was with his girlfriend and put her needs first.

"Davis... I need you... Please..." Kari let out, wanting her love more than anything right now, where she saw him sit up as he took his boxers off, leaving him fully naked on top of her, a sight Kari loved seeing, before he placed his hands on her hips and proceeded to tend to the needs of his love.

Lining his member up with her pussy, slowly rubbing the tip along her folds and feeling how wet Kari was getting, looking at his love and listening to her moans, Davis moved in, not only engaging Kari in a deep and loving kiss, but he thrust his hips forward, sliding his cock inside of the Digidestined of Light, the feeling causing her to break their kiss, moan in absolute pleasure and wrap her arms tightly around the Digidestined of Miracles.

"Yes... oh, yes, Davis..." Kari moaned as Davis slowly moved back and forth, wanting to give Kari as much pleasure as they began to make love, where he leaned in and kissed her once again, the brunette moaning happily from the love and pleasure she felt, moreso that it was with the man she was destined to be with, feelings Davis shared as he continued to make love to Kari, giving a great effort in satisfying her.

Time passed quickly for the pair, making love for over an hour, leaving them soon resting on the bed and in each other's arms, where Kari looked up at Davis with a loving smile on her face as she said full heartedly. "I love you, Davis."

"And I love you, Kari, and I always will." Davis replied, his tone matching the love's Kari held, causing the two to once again kiss, each happy and feeling complete with their soulmate before closing their eyes and soon drifting off to sleep, finding a continued comfort in each other's embrace.

-A week later-

The Digi-heroes stood in front of the Appli Drivers in the command center of the DPF, having finally figured out the coding the Dark Queen had used to bring them to the Digital World, as the groups were now going to say their goodbyes and for the Appli Drivers to come home.

"Here you go." Izzy said as he handed a disk to Hajime, adding with a smile. "This should help locate and delete Leviathan's signal from your world so that it can't return ever again."

"Thank you." The young Appli Driver said with a polite bow, before Davis said to all of them. "We're the ones who should be thanking you guys. Without you we would have been in serious trouble."

"We didn't do too much." Haru replied with a modest tone, where Gatchmon elbowed him and added. "We kicked butt!"

"And you guys helped us as well." Eri then added with a smile as she held Astora's hand in her own, while the blond blushed brightly, still getting used to Eri liking him back, but smiling nonetheless.

But showing that he was the same enthusiastic boy that she had fallen for, Astora smiled as he looked at Musimon and asked. "So other than the whole A.R.E.S. using me against you, what did you think of the Digital World?"

"Groovy?" Musimon said in reply, bringing his hands up and starting the signature approval he and Astora were famous for.

"Not Groovy?" Astora asked back, posing his hands down as he got into the mood.

"So Groovy!" He, Musimon and surprisingly Eri then called, crossing their arms along their chests and posing out their thumbs, index and ring fingers, showing Astora's cheerful nature had rubbed off on his girlfriend, the sight surprising the Appli Drivers to see Eri join in, but they couldn't help but smile, knowing Astora and Eri not only made a great couple, but they would only continue to bring out the best in the other.

And wanting to keep the moment forever, everyone saw Astora take his smartphone out, moving himself in position so that the Digi-heroes were behind him, as were Musimon and Eri, where those in the line of sight did their best smiles as he took the photo, giving a big grin as he saved the image.

"I hope she doesn't end up too much like Tora..." Gatchmon said under his breath with a sigh, imaging Eri dressed in Astora's clothing, posting her own Apptube videos, where she would do crazy stunts of her own, before the search Appmon then let out an audible gulp as he then saw Eri in his face with her fist raised and a smirk on her face.

"You better watch yourself, Gatchmon, otherwise I'll Big Bang Punch you to the corner of the stars." Eri declared, her words causing Gatchmon to nod nervously in reply, while the mental image of Astora acting like Eri came to his head, a thought he dared not speak.

The group then all said their goodbyes, before Haru looked at Gatchmon and asked with a smile. "Ready to go home, Gatchmon?"

"Well... I don't know. How I can live now after Davis' cooking!" The search Appmon whined with animated tears, one the other Appmon shared, even Hackmon, much to their surprise, while the Digi-heroes all laughed a little as the Appli Drivers calmed their partners down.

The group then gave one final nod to the Digi-heroes, before facing one of the monitors and holding their App Drive Duos out, where Izzy typed the last commands and the group were sucked in through a Digi-port, arriving in Haru's Grandfather's workstation, where they saw the old man and Ai waiting for them.

But before Haru could greet them, much to the surprise of him and the others, Ai quickly ran up and hugged Haru, before giving him a kiss on the cheek, leaving the green haired boy in a stunned state.

Recovering from his initial shock/stun, as he blushed, Haru rubbed his cheek and asked. "What was that for?"

"Because I missed you." Ai replied as she looked at Haru with a continued smile, feeling a warmth inside of her as she set her arms around the green haired boy and added. "And this is because I love you, Haru Shinkai."

Before Haru could react to Ai's words, he was left silent as Ai moved her lips upon his, kissing him deeply, before the feelings Ai was expressing caused Haru to react and mimic as he kissed Ai, finding the same emotions and love in his heart filling him, while, Gatchmon, Yujin, Offmon, Eri, Astora, Dokamon, Musimon, Hajime, Rei and Onmon all smiled at the scene.

Back in the Digital World, the group was splitting up, with everyone returning home for the evening, before Kari felt a hand on her shoulder, looking over to see Rika with a nervous look on her face, as well as a light blush.

"Um, Kari... about what you asked me for Davis' birthday..." The redhead began to say, confusing Kari for a moment, before remembering what she had talked to Rika about, having been so distracted by the events that it almost slipped her mind.

"Oh, right. I mean I know it was a lot but..." Kari started to reply, thinking it was too much for Rika.

"I'm on board. What do you have in mind?" Rika cut in with a hopeful look, as thanks to her more perverted side, the red haired Tamer was constantly barraged with images of how the plan would go, and she wanted it, even though she felt a shiver as she saw Kari's face gain a mischievous smirk to it, ideas coming to her mind for her and for Rika.

-A few days later-

On the night of his birthday, Davis returned to his apartment with a smile, not only glad from the celebration he received from his friends, but in his head, there was one thought that filled him with a continued joy. 'Tonight's the night, I just hope she says yes.'

Turning the corner, Davis was then meet with the wonderful sight of his love, taking in Kari's appearance and seeing she was wearing a pink nightgown, noticing how the lacy material that covered Kari's body was transparent and allowed him to see the black coloured panties and the matching bra she was wearing beneath, while pink thigh high stockings ran up her legs.

The sight of Kari's attire was very pleasing for Davis, watching with a sly smile as the brunette walked up to him with a smile of her own, before wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him passionately.

And after the kiss, Kari said with a sexy purr. "Welcome home, Birthday Boy. Close your eyes because I've got a special present for you."

Smiling at Kari's attitude, Davis complied as he closed his eyes, feeling Kari take his hands and lead him into what he assumed was their bedroom, before feeling Kari move behind him and whisper into his ear. "Now, open them."

Doing as his girlfriend had said, Davis expected the present to revolve around his pleasure, expecting to find Kari had set up their bedroom in a more intimate setting, but the Digidestined of Miracles was left in awe to find Rika Nonaka, not only lying on their bed with a bright blush on her face, but the only thing covering her body were several blue coloured ribbons.

"I remembered how she was one of the girls who had a crush on you." Kari started to say, causing Rika and Davis to blush as they were reminded of the celebration party for him after the battle with the Legion two years ago, where Rika, amongst others in their drunken states tried to hit on him, before the brunette continued. "And out of all of them, she's the only one that isn't with a boyfriend right now, and you are so wonderful, I figured just for tonight she could enjoy you as well."

From what Kari had said, Davis could only keep blushing, his mind still registering what he was seeing, but more as to what Kari had told him and what she was suggesting, before his morality got the better of him and he had to ask. "Kari, I do love you, and there is nobody else I'd want to be with, but are you sure about this?"

"It was my idea, silly. I'm ok with it, and Rika's been such a good friend to both of us. So go ahead, let us help you enjoy your birthday." Kari replied with a more lustful tone as she reached down and pulled Davis' shirt over his head, causing Rika's blush to grow as she saw Davis' muscular chest.

"Davis, I love you, and you will always be the only man I cherish." Kari then said, her hands continuing to roam along Davis' body as she removed his clothing, leaving him in his black boxers, where Kari smiled and told him. "So just relax and enjoy your present."

"I know that after tonight, Rika will understand just how happy you can make me." The brunette went on, giving Davis' back an encouraging push toward Rika, leading to Davis joining the Tamer on the bed, where he gave into his desires and kissed Rika's lips, leaving her moaning and melting at the kiss, unable to do anything but allow Davis' lips to remain on her's and or his tongue to invade her mouth.

And as Davis kissed Rika, he could feel himself starting to get into it, moving his hands down Rika's body, feeling her smooth skin and arriving at her breasts, sliding his right under the ribbons that were tied around her breasts and began to massage and fondle her left, increasing Rika's moaning.

'So... so good...! Better than I imagined it could be...!' Rika thought lustfully as she closed her eyes, letting the man who occupied her fantasies continue to play with her body, soon feeling Davis then break his kiss with her, causing Rika to open her eyes and see the sly smirk upon Davis' face.

"I think I'll get a better look at my present." The Digidestined of Courage and Friendship said, his tone matching the slyness of his expression, which continued to arouse Rika, remaining on her back and lying still as she allowed Davis' hands to once again come into contact with her, tugging at the front of the ribbon that covered her breasts and undoing it, leaving the top of Rika bare naked.

"Like what you see, birthday boy?" Rika asked with a light blush as she cupped her breasts lightly, hoping to entice Davis a bit more.

Feeling himself blushing, Davis tried to give his reply.

"Well you do have a great body, Rika. You are very beautiful, you'd make a great model if you ever wanted to be one." Davis told Rika, conflicted in his thoughts as he wanted to be nice to Rika, but also not send the wrong message.

"You don't need to be shy, Davis, just let go and enjoy tonight." Kari then said as she embraced her love from behind, placing her hands on his as she guided them towards Rika's breasts, causing the redhead to purr as she felt the maroon haired Digidestined's hands on her once again.

And as Davis blushed at first, feeling not only Kari pressing her body against his, but her actually assisting him in rubbing Rika's breasts, the maroon haired Digidestined began to get in the mood, turning to kiss Kari deeply, while leaving Rika moaning as he continued to rub at her chest, filling both girls with excitement.

The fun continued for most of the night, the room filled with the sounds of moaning and sighs of pleasure as Davis enjoyed his birthday night.

-The next evening-

The next morning, after a night of pure passion, Davis made breakfast for Kari and Rika, the redhead keeping a satisfied smile on her face for the rest of the day, even after she left the apartment, knowing that she would have to have a chat with Kari sometime soon about another night of fun with the three of them.

That following night and taking things easier than they had the last few days, within their apartment, stirring a little in her sleep, Kari slowly opened her eyes as she felt around the bed, finding the familiar warmth of Davis' body was no longer by her side, causing the brunette to shift her body up, the covers falling down and exposing Kari's bare form as she got up.

Wrapping a robe around her form, Kari made her way into the living room, finding Davis outside the balcony and staring at the city, seemingly in deep thought, where she slowly slid the door open and joined her beloved, wondering what was troubling him.

"Hey there." Kari said with a soft smile, causing Davis to turn his head and smile back as she walked up and leaned against the railing beside him, where she asked with a mischievous smirk. "So, did you enjoy your birthday?"

"Yeah, I did." Davis replied, keeping his smile, though his tone changed, turning more serious as he told Kari. "Though I didn't get to do what I originally planned."

Keeping his hands upon the balcony ledge, Davis had something clenched within his left hand, which Kari didn't notice as she mentally kicked herself, feeling bad that she might have ruined whatever plans her love had originally had for the previous night.

"Oh, Davis, I..." Kari started to say, wanting to apologize for messing up his plans, only for her voice to get caught in her throat at the sight before her, her hands and lips trembling as her eyes widened, where she mentally thought. 'Is... is this really happening?!'

There he was, the love of her life, before her and on one knee, a small box opened in his hand, containing a gold ring with a pink diamond shaped like the Crest of Light as he smiled up at her.

"Kari, when I first moved to Odabia, I had no one, my parents were constantly out of town, Jun had her own things, and I had no friends at the time, I felt alone, until you came into my life, bringing a light I never wanted to fade. You were a shining light of beauty, one that continued to grow as I got to know you. I learnt you are kind, fun, considerate and when push comes to shove, you can show your true strength. If we are destined to be soulmates, so be it, but I want to be with you the right way."

"Kari, will you...?" Davis then began to ask, only for Kari to cry out tear fully. "Yes! Yes!"

Acting to her emotions, to her love, Kari then quickly embraced Davis, nearly tackling him to the floor as they kissed, both loving one another and knowing no matter what the future held, no matter what came their way, even if the Dark Ones tried to come for them again, they would face it together as husband and wife.

-Dark Realm-

"**Another falls... The Light within them prevails...**" One of the Dark Ones commented, his brethren also sharing his disdain at losing another of their champions, of their chances to bring their kin back.

"**Your champions. Mine, however, are growing stronger day by day. Patience is the key to bringing them over and under our control.**" Another Dark One then said, its voice one of malice and cunning.

"**You may have the girl on your WORLD, Zhaitan, but the BOY has already taken THE Power of the LIGHT!**" The Dark One that had spoken with the Digi-heroes snapped, but the one known as Zhaitan merely chuckled.

"**Perhaps, but when the time comes, she will bring him to us.**" Zhaitan replied, leaving the group to continue his work, where one of the Dark One then said. "**At least he doesn't have those annoying Digimon to deal with.**"

"**That doesn't make it any easier.**" Another replied, where the assembled beings of the darkness waited to see if their brother could succeed where the others failed.

The End.

Author's Note: Thanks to all for reading this series, stay tune for the next, which will be... quite different from any seen before.


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